THE STORY of women's activism throughout history is being chronicled in a unique virtual reality experience.
The Peace Museum, in partnership with National Lottery Project Remembering Resistance, is exploring 100 years of women’s protest and activism, drawing from collections of photographs and resources from time past.
Rooted in Bradford, the viewer will walk through a march led by the Bradford Female Radical Association of 1839, encountering virtual representatives of northern women's movements chronologically through the ages.
Working alongside students from Grange School in Bradford, the project will bring together resources from The Peace Museum’s collection as well as material from Lancaster University’s Remembering Resistance project.
Pupils have been exploring The Peace Museum’s collection of over 7000 objects relating to peaceful activism and pick out relevant artefacts, such as posters or banners. These objects will then be digitised by Lancaster’s team to form part of the virtual reality march.
Jude Wright, peace educator at The Peace Museum said: "We're really excited to be working with Remembering Resistance on this unique VR project.
"It's amazing that our collection is being used to form a piece of virtual reality as this is something we have never done before.
"Using our collection to explore the history of peaceful activism to inspire the next generation to see peacemaking as an active endeavour is one of the driving forces behind our work.
"We hope that the young people involved will be inspired by exploring peace objects in the museum and that the many more people who take part in the VR experience learn from the stories of protest in the North of England."
During the VR experience, viewers will be able to 'select' artefacts from the virtual march to find out more information.
Extracts from oral histories illustrating women's experiences of protest collected through Remembering Resistance will also be included in the virtual march, creating an experience for all the senses.
The virtual march will be available across different platforms, including the Google cardboard app and viewer and via a web-based platform, enabling teachers to access the materials through an interactive whiteboard.
The project will be co-ordinated by Lancaster University, co-designed with young people, delivered by education and museum professionals, and will be shared throughout the project partner’s networks.
Remembering Resistance: A Century of Women's Protest in the North of England has been awarded by the Heritage Fund.
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