Celebrating the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage, Public Share hosted two social art events on key suffrage dates. On 19 September, the date New Zealand women won the right to vote, we shared tumblers made from blended clay donated by 16 female MPs. These tumblers were stamped with women’s suffrage dates from 190 countries around the world. Then on 28 November, to mark the date New Zealand women first voted, we shared stirrers made with clay collected from sites connected to two significant suffragists, Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia and Kate Sheppard. Alongside the stirrers we produced a newspaper, OVER TIME, with invited female writers commissioned to reflect on an issue they considered relevant to women’s rights in 2018.

OVER TIME Pt.1 Banquet Hall, Parliament Buildings, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington

6pm to 7.30pm, 19th of September 2018

For OVER TIME, pt.1, Public Share invited current and former female Members of Parliament, who have helped to improve the lives of women, to contribute some clay/soil from their backyards, a site of personal significance, or related to a person of importance to them.

Sixteen MPs generously provided Public Share with clay and soil. These were mixed together and used to make 209 tumblers. Each tumbler was stamped with a unique date. The dates, 190 in total, represent the dates that women won the vote in countries around the world. The 16 contributing MPs were Louisa Wall, Sue Moroney, Marilyn Waring, Marama Davidson, Fran Wilde, Sue Bradford, Helen Clark, Jackie Blue, Chloe Swarbrick, Jeanette Fitzsimmons, Golriz Ghahraman, Sue Kedgeley, Jan Logie, Jacinda Ardern, Steve Chadwick, and Maryan Street.

Public Share installed a temporary tea station in the Beehive’s Banquet Hall as part of the ‘Suffrage Day 2018: celebrations at Parliament’. Hosted by Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and Acting Minister for Women Hon Eugenie Sage, the event celebrated suffrage history and community champions for women and girls.

On arrival, guests were invited to select one of the tumblers to use for their refreshments at the event and, if they wanted, take away afterwards. An accompanying flyer was published with a detailed photographic index of the 209 tumblers (poster side) and on the reverse, a 125-year Women’s Suffrage timeline and project information.

Lot #: 020/209 tumblers

Distribution and Acknowledgements

In December 2018, Public Share assembled packages for all the people who contributed to the OVER TIME project. For Pt.1 each contributing MP was sent a project tumbler (dated: 19 SEP 1893), with a set of stirrers and a copy of the OVER TIME newspaper from Pt.2.

OVER TIME was a temporary public art project commissioned by Wellington City Council Public Art & City Arts and Events team for Suffrage 125.