If you can't attend the exhibition dates (see right) you can use the gallery (below) to check out the PSA banner. The banner was made with the assistance of the Dan Long Trust.
For hundreds of years, trade unions and other organisations of workers have made banners to display their identity and their ideals. In Britain, especially in the 19th century, large processions of tradespeople headed by their ornate banners were a common sight on Labour Day and other special occasions.
British workers carried the tradition of union banner-making with them when they migrated overseas. From the 1880s, a wave of new unions was set up in New Zealand. Many of them made their own unique banners to symbolise what they stood for.
This photograph shows the 1908 Labour Day procession in Gisborne. The banners are carried on horse-drawn carts, converted for this occasion into suitably decorated floats. The front float represents workers in the bakery trades. As well as their banner, with the Biblical slogan “Give us this day our daily bread”, the white-coated bakers have adorned their float with sheaves of wheat.
In 1913 watersiders, seamen and others went on strike in almost every port town in the country. This solemn procession, including women and children, is marching in Wellington under the banner of the Seamen’s Union.
Since the 1980s the tradition of making and displaying union banners has almost disappeared in New Zealand.
For its 2013 centenary year, the Public Service Association Te Pukenga Here Tikanga Mahi, New Zealand’s largest union, commissioned a specially designed banner to celebrate our past, represent our present and envisage our future. We invited makers, artists and designers (both individuals and groups) to submit design proposals.
The panel judging was led by Raymond Boyce MBE, HonLittD: designer and director of theatre, opera, film and ballet; and Arts Foundation icon.
Dawn Sanders, arts administrator; CEO, Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ, was the banner competition manager.
The judging panel selected Genevieve Packer’s design as the winner. Genevieve is a Wellington designer and fabric artist. Her design was a lively combination of traditional and modern elements, and used sturdy, all-weather materials. Genevieve was given by a cash prize and a paid commission to execute her design as a fullscale banner.
“It was quite appealing to me that it was a union project. Before I formally trained as a textile designer I worked in the Education Review Office and I belonged to the PSA. I also taught at Massey for eight years and belonged to the Tertiary Education Union. My experience with unions has only ever been very positive. They’ve been very helpful and very supportive.”
Genevieve drew her winning design on a computer. The digital information, and sheets of white leather, were supplied to Human Dynamo, a Wellington factory specialising in model-making for the
film industry. Here technician Andy Wenham is preparing a sheet of leather for their computerised laser-cutter. This machine cuts the leather precisely to the specifications in Genevieve’s design.
In her studio, Genevieve peels the cut-out leather pieces from the sheet. She then paints the edges of each piece to remove any marks made by the laser-cutter.
With her industrial sewing machine, Genevieve sews each piece of leather onto the banner’s backing material – hard-wearing awning canvas.
Small and intricate details are carefully added to the banner material.
After a grand unveiling at the centenary launch event in Auckland, the winning banner became the focal point of a touring exhibition. By offering regional and local museums, libraries and galleries the opportunity to exhibit both the finished work and the creativity that the competition has inspired, New Zealanders all over the country can share in the process. The banner will be used in a variety of ways – for display, as a backdrop at conferences, and occasionally taken outdoors to be carried in marches or events.
This banner was made with the generous assistance of the Dan Long Trust.
