The Comrades They Were Brave



Taking Cecilia's homage to Edith as a starting point the visual concept for this exhibition’s visual identity was highly inspired by Cecilia's activism.




A clear message, straight to the point with bold typography. Our goal was to design a strong and clear visual identity that leaves space for reflection and dialogue.



Client: Cecilia Sjoholm
Service: Visual Identity
Location: London, United Kingdom
Year: 2022
Artists: Cecilia Sjoholm, Deborah Tchoudjinoff, Garth Gratrix, Hatty Buchanan, Iain Hales, Jillian Knipe, Laura Moreton-Griffiths


This exhibition presents work by a group of artists who all engage in defiance, a homage to Edith Garrud and the Suffragette Bodyguard Unit. The work is diverse in media, brought together by the artist’s interest in figurative abstraction. The exhibition takes place at 44GRS gallery, the second floor of a historic townhouse in Bloomsbury, London. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, each weekend will see a set of accompanying events such as talks, discussions, music, screenings, and readings. It will be a festival for the valiant, the buoyant, and the scamps. The artists in this exhibition have been invited to take Edith and the Bodyguard Unit as a starting point, to explore the theme of fighting for something, the most fundamental of issues – permission to be who you are. This work is about having courage when you are afraid, having the strength to object to something, and making a space for yourself and others. Stories of the collective or the individual wanting to transform the status quo are perpetual, they have a past, a present, and a future. Do we choose to fight openly in public or are we escape artists operating as much as possible outside society? Do we use smokescreens and camouflage as a matter of survival? This exhibition explores questions such as, ‘can I be my own bodyguard?’, ‘to what level are we willing to make sacrifices?’, and ‘what is my Modus Operandi?’ Through different media, materials, colors, and writings, the exhibition forms a narrative in itself, interrogating the relationship between interior and exterior space, the private and the public. The rooms of 44GRS are the book cover that holds the stories inside – a boundless place where we acknowledge active and passive resistance.

Taking as an inspiration Cecilia's homage to Edith as a starting point the visual concept for this exhibition’s visual identity was highly inspired by Cecilia's activism. Communication design should be used to educate, inform and evoke emotion and due to this power, it might spark revolutions and bring attention to critical issues. The majority of the visual materials designed under these circumstances are very straightforward. A clear message, straight to the point with bold typography. Our goal was to design a strong and clear visual identity that leaves space for reflection and dialogue. The poster was screen-printed in black and white over different papers and materials.

A visual practice, operating internationally, focused on Graphic Design and Art Direction.