Jeremy Deller: 'Ed's banners have become a bit of a motif in my work'

Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and leading banner-maker Ed Hall on the art of protest and a decade of working together

Centre stage at Disobedient Objects, an exhibition at the V&A, London that aims to explore the connection between social protest and art, will be a banner designed in 2013 by Ed Hall for the South Yorkshire branch of Unite. Emblazoned with the words "Still the Enemy Within" – a reference to the expression used by Margaret Thatcher to describe the striking miners – the banner, in traditional crimson and gold, was stitched in the south London garage that doubles as Hall's workshop, and took him about 150 hours.

Hall is Britain's leading designer of marching banners for trade unions and other campaign groups, an odd sort of career into which he stumbled more than 30 years ago (by training, he is an architect). But Hall is also, thanks to an ongoing collaboration with Jeremy Deller, the Turner prize-winning artist who represented Britain at the 2013 Venice Biennale, fairly used to seeing his work in galleries.

"Basel, Venice, Paris… Jeremy has given me some of the most amazing experiences of my life," he says. "I made 50 banners for his exhibition [From One Revolution to Another, 2008] at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Just to wander through that city knowing I'd work to do there! It was wonderful."

Deller discovered Hall a decade ago at the Lambeth country show in Brockwell Park, south London; the banner that caught his eye – it eventually appeared in Deller's show Folk Archive – commemorated the Brixton bomb of 1999 and an anti-racist march that followed it. In the years since, Hall has made him many hundreds more. "They've become a bit of a motif in my work," Deller says. "Though it must be boring for Ed because I often ask for very simple text banners." Hall nods. "That's true. For Venice, I was hoping to get the Salute and the Lagoon. But there was none of that, sadly."

Hand-sewn union banners are unique to these islands, perhaps because – this is Hall's theory – in Catholic Europe, people put their efforts into stitching for saints' days: "When the trade unions came along, they adopted the pictorial imagery of the Bible – rising suns and so on – without having to worry about the church." His favourite banners, though, are those made by the suffragettes in their own ateliers. Does he feel he must work within the traditions, or is he keen to suggest new iconography?

"Not really. Most of the groups that commission me want dignity and gravitas in their banners, and that's what I'm interested in too. I don't think you could successfully make a jokey banner." Has he ever made one for a right-wing group? "Well, the Countryside Alliance have never asked. But I wouldn't make one that, say, promoted grammar schools. Then again, I wouldn't make a Stalinist banner either."

Come and hear Jeremy Deller speak at the Observer Ideas festival

Given the history of the past 25 years, in which union power has grown ever more limited, it is perhaps surprising to hear how busy Hall is. "The order book is always just at the point of panic. I've got eight to do at the moment, including one for Newcastle RMT which will have the Tyne and its bridges in it." So Deller must wait in line? They laugh, but no answer is forthcoming. My hunch is that very occasionally and somewhat undemocratically, the famous artist gets to jump the queue.

Disobedient Objects is at the V&A, London SW7 from Saturday until 26 February. Jeremy Deller will be appearing at Observer Ideas at the Barbican, London, a day-long festival of talks and performances – click here to book tickets

Contributor

Rachel Cooke

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Jeremy Deller: ‘Parliament Square was like something from Hogarth’s Britain’
The prize-winning artist on the scenes of protest outside the Commons – and going to the same school as Nigel Farage

Tim Lewis

01, Dec, 2019 @9:00 AM

Article image
Jeremy Deller: Joy in People; Elmgreen and Dragset: the Fourth Plinth – review

Jeremy Deller makes an exhibition of himself and society in this expansive, energetic show, writes Laura Cumming

Laura Cumming

26, Feb, 2012 @12:05 AM

Jeremy Deller

Turner prize winner 2004.

Charlotte Higgins

08, Sep, 2007 @10:45 PM

Article image
Jeremy Deller: ‘The world worries me – but for an artist, that’s a good thing’
The artist has been confounding the art world for 30 years. As he publishes Art Is Magic, a survey of his best known works, he talks about the experiences that shaped them

Sean O’Hagan

23, Apr, 2023 @8:00 AM

Article image
Turner prize 2004 exhibition, Tate Britain, London

All of this year's Turner prize nominees have created video work. But there can be only one winner for Jonathan Jones.

Jonathan Jones

20, Oct, 2004 @10:18 AM

Article image
Jeremy Deller: heady brew

Swirling 3D bats, a tidy teenage bedroom, and a full-size Lancashire caff … Adrian Searle revels in Jeremy Deller's long, strange journey

Adrian Searle

20, Feb, 2012 @9:30 PM

Article image
The Guardian profile: Jeremy Deller

A Dulwich College old boy, he is odds-on favourite to clinch the Turner prize on Monday. In shunning the trendy art scene and 'commodification', he boasts an unusually wide range of admirers, from miners to musicians.

Tania Branigan

03, Dec, 2004 @10:33 AM

Article image
Jeremy Deller wins 2004 Turner prize

Jeremy Deller's video study of George Bush's home state tonight won him the £25,000 Turner prize.

Staff and agencies

06, Dec, 2004 @9:17 PM

Article image
Jeremy Deller's visions of England

The spirit of Albion, as conjured in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale, makes for some surprising connections. The Turner prize-winning artist talks to Tim Adams

Tim Adams

01, Jun, 2013 @10:00 PM

Article image
Jeremy Deller: The Bruce Lacey Experience - video

Deller's documentary captures the spirit of this visionary artist, a wild man who worked with the Beatles and Spike Milligan, dabbled in performance art before such a thing existed, and created an early automaton named Rosa Bosom. Here's an overview made exclusively for the Guardian

Jeremy Deller and Nick Abrahams

06, Jul, 2012 @10:38 AM