24 fingers is hugely proud to be supporting public artist Martin Firrell on his Remember 1967 campaign which launched yesterday, Thursday 27th July. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, a law which meant for the first time, gay and bisexual men in England and Wales could have sexual relationships without being automatically criminalised.
To mark this milestone in the history of LGBT+ equality, Firrell has created six new public artworks for digital billboards in England and Wales, supported by Peter Tatchell, world-renowned human rights and social justice campaigner and leading digital media companies, Clear Channel Outdoor and Primesight.
Throughout this month-long campaign, the billboards will encourage conversation and debate around gender labels, and what those labels mean in today’s world. As Firrell says: “No other human rights movement has seen so much progress in the space of 50 years. That is to be celebrated. And the activism that made that possible should be acknowledged. But there is always more to be done. How we think about gender now will liberate – or blight – people’s lives for the next 50 years.”
This nationwide out-of-home billboard takeover shares the messages and demands of 1960s activists and radical thinkers of the time across six billboards. Similarly, in keeping with the decade, the six billboards are black and white, and use a popular font of the time, Univers Extra Black Extended.
The release of the Remember 1967 digital billboards follows an artist-led Gender Think-In, held in June 2017. London’s iconic Lloyd’s building played host to 200 leaders across business, culture and policy, who came together to discuss and share views on the value of gender labels and the concept of having a ‘gender tender’ approach, a kinder, softer way of thinking. The results of this think-in will be published by Martin Firrell as a policy paper, mapping out an alternative future for gender.
24 fingers will be working to amplify the Remember 1967 campaign across social media, encouraging conversation and debate. Within the first 24-hour period, the posts have achieved a potential reach of over 350,000 social media users. You can join in the conversation by using the hashtag #remember1967 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
About the artist: Martin Firrell has been dubbed a ‘cultural activist’, known for provoking public conversations of social value and credited by the Guardian as ‘one of London’s most influential public artists’. Recent projects include ‘Fires Ancient’ and ‘Fires Modern’, two simultaneous projections – on the National Theatre Southbank façade and the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral – commissioned by Artichoke for London’s commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire. ‘Remember 1967’ builds on the success of Firrell’s 2016 work ‘All Identity Is Constructed’ which called for greater identity equality using digital billboards and social media with a reach of 3 million people across the UK. The project won the 2016 UK industry award for best digital campaign.
