Hope for change. Hackney Flashers, from London to Strasbourg

The exhibition Hope for change. Hackney Flashers, from London to Strasbourg celebrates the 50th anniversary of the formation of the London feminist collective Hackney Flashers. Founded in 1975, this group of nine women from Hackney and the surrounding area set out to highlight the gender pay gap, the lack of public childcare facilities in England, and the sexist stereotypes perpetuated by the media and advertising, which reinforced the marginalized, passive, and essentialized position of women.

Through a series of posters and slides, the Hackney Flashers aimed to denounce inequalities and clichés. To this end, they employed a variety of techniques borrowed from agitprop, such as photography, collages, photocollages, photomontages, drawings, and slogans, to produce works in their spare time on a voluntary basis. Their projects employed strategies that were ethical and political, but also critical of modern art: single-sex practice, unsigned works, refusal to accept the status of artwork, displays confined to public spaces, and venues dedicated to defending social rights. 

The exhibition at the CEAAC draws on the collective’s guiding principles to examine the situation of women and mothers in Strasbourg today. For this purpose, three artist-researchers—Claude Dugit-Gros, Julie Luzoir and Pascaline Morincôme—were invited to continue the Hackney Flashers’ visual investigation and create new work that focuses on the current situation of women’s employment in Strasbourg, public policies in favor of parents, and visual and discursive representations of women. The aim is to demonstrate the continued relevance of the Hackney Flashers’ work, whose subjects of criticism and revolt remain topical in 2025. 

Camille Richert is an art historian, curator, and art critic who teaches at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (ENSBA) in Lyon. She is an associate curator at La Salle de bains in Lyon and regularly contributes to AWARE, a research platform on women artists. In 2024, she edited Parents must unite + fight–Hackney Flashers: Agitprop, Work, and Socialist Feminism in England, the first monograph dedicated to the Hackney Flashers at Tombolo Presses that was awarded “Most Beautiful Swiss Books.”

Claude Dugit-Gros is an artist who takes a playful and humorous approach to forms. The simplicity of her works’ formal economy reflects a desire to produce open and inclusive work that borrows from popular culture. 

Julie Luzoir is an artist and graphic designer based in Strasbourg. In her work, she uses drawings, interviews, and performances to contribute to the discursive polyphony in contemporary societies.

Pascaline Morincôme is a researcher and exhibition curator. She is currently writing a thesis on art theory and teaching at the Jules Verne University in Amiens. Her research focuses on the participatory use of film and video as tools for community building and transmission.

The exhibition is supported by Fluxus Art Projects, the Fondation d’entreprise AG2R LA MONDIALE pour la vitalité artistique, and the “Quartiers 2030” scheme of Contrat de ville de l’Eurométropole de Strasbourg.
With films from the collections of the regional digital film library MIRA.

Associated exhibitions in CEAAC’s Project Space
November 1, 2025–January 4, 2026
Vampire Bed’N’Breakfast
Pfliegerfœglé (Emma Pflieger & Antoine Fœglé)
2024 laureates of the Strasbourg/Budapest cross-residency program with Budapest Gallery

January 31–March 8, 2026
Milena Jesenská, La Voie de la Simplicité
Kévin Blinderman & Flora Citroën
2024 laureates of the Strasbourg/Prague cross-residency program with MeetFactory and the French Institute in Prague

Artist-in-residence
From October until December 2025
Elise ‘t Hart

Based in Dordrecht and fascinated by sound, Elise ‘t Hart founded the Instituut voor Huisgeluid (Institute for Domestic Sound) in 2013, which brings together an extensive online collection of sounds in relation to the everyday and domestic space.

With the kind support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in France.

The CEAAC is supported by Drac Grand Est, Région Grand Est, Collectivité européenne d’Alsace, and Ville de Strasbourg.