Provocative Places: Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp

Provocative Objects / Spaces

24 June, 2026 -

In 1981, a protest camp was set up at the Royal Air Force base Greenham Common in England by the group Women for Life on Earth who had marched 80 miles from Cardiff, to protest the housing of American Cruise missiles on British soil. In 1982, it became a women-only space and was referred to as Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Through the occupation of the site for almost two decades between 1981 and 2000, and through non-violent direct action, protesters called for an end to nuclear weapon-based national defence systems.(1)

At Greenham, the military fence acted as both a provocative place and object. Read as a place of dissonance and disruption, activists reimagined the potential for the fence as a disruptive object too. In her online archive of Greenham, art historian Alexandra Kokoli wrote about the fence: 

It acted as the screen through which the women and the authorities would look at and talk to each other; as a barrier, whose soundness was challenged through fence-cutting and fence-pulling actions, aimed to highlight the lack of security around weapons of mass destruction; and it became an informal yet permanent visual display, a secular reliquary of precious mementos that acted as reminders of what would be lost in the event of nuclear war (or accident), a grid on which suspended everyday objects were transformed into readymades, and a gallery for original artwork often made with textiles and yarn.(2)
 

The metal fence represented a symbol of deeper issues such as warmongering, colonial mindsets of Global North nations testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific, and a lack of women’s voices in political spheres in Britain. The metal wire itself became a symbol of this contention, visually separating military personnel and operations on one side, and unstructured, lived experiences of protesting women on the other. The fence as site of contention was physically confronted by women dressing it up with personal objects, photographs, clothing, and yarn showcasing a visual representation of life outside the military base and the risk caused by the threat of nuclear war. 

The razor wire was regularly climbed, broken into, taken down. Large scale nonviolent direct actions also centered the fence. On 12 December 1982, more than 30,000 women came together at the airbase in an action called ‘Embrace the Base’ where women decorated the wire and held hands to fully encircle the perimeter fence, showcasing their strength in numbers against the immovable object of the military base.(3) 

Some protesters also used pieces of wire to create objects of dissent. Juley Howard recounted how she started using pieces of the fence which she would sand the tip of to create knitting needles.(4) Greenham woman ‘Annie’ published the zine Knitting and Picketing, in which she mentions: “We are making knitting needles from your military fences: size 8 from greenham / size 6 from brawdy.”(5) The fence became a tool to advocate for its own destruction. 

The symbol of the fence was ever present in Greenham visual imagery. Badges showcased the fence and woven webs of yarn enmeshed together, newsletters printed the symbol, and it was even represented in a homemade video game and handknitted jumpers. Juley Howard knitted the motif of the fence into one of her slogan jumpers made for Greenham woman Anne Gilholy. In the jumper, the motif of the fence is overlapped with the question ‘Will there be womanly times?’ and Venus symbols (♀). The fence, as both a provocative object and creator of a provocative place, created a striking visual representation of Greenham, its activism and actions. 

As space of contention and symbol of dissent, the metal fence was at the same time a symptom of the housing of American Cruise missiles on British soil, and a tool for the dissidence of Greenham women. As liminal space between the peace camp and military operations, it represented the dissonance and rhetoric of difference employed by protesters - on one side, structured, grey, metallic destructive tools; on the other, soft, colourful, nonhierarchical and nonviolent grassroots community.  

Footnotes

1. For examples of direct actions organised at Greenham Common, see Alice Cook and Gwyn Kirk, Greenham Women Everywhere: Dreams, Ideas and Actions from the Women’s Peace Movement (London: Pluto Press, 1983); Juley Howard and Faith Moulin, Righteous Anger (FeedARead.com, 2017); Sasha Roseneil, Disarming Patriarchy: Feminism and Political Action at Greenham (London: Open University Press, 1995).
2. Alexandra Kokoli, “The Perimeter Fence,” in “Greenham Common’s Archival Webs: Towards a Virtual Feminist Museum,” British Art Studies (2023). https://main--britishartstudies-24.netlify.app/issues/24/visual-cultures-of-greenham-common/ Accessed 2 June 2026.
3. Charlotte Dew, Women for Peace: Banners from Greenham Commo (United Kingdom: Four Corners Books, 2021), 98.
4. Juley Howard and Faith Moulin, Righteous Anger (United Kingdom: FeedARead.com, 2017), 129.
5. Annie, Knitting and Picketing (United Kingdom: Mushroom, 1985).

Aurore Damoiseaux is a Design History Society Ambassador and current PhD student at the University of Brighton. Her AHRC-Techne funded research project focuses on the use of clothing and textile objects in British anti-nuclear activism, specifically looking at Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (1981-2000). Aurore’s research investigates topics including dress as carrier of emotion and memory, collaborative textile creation in the alternative space of the peace camp, and the politics of appearance. 

Started by the DHS Ambassadors in 2022, the Design History Society's Provocative Objects and Places blog looks at spaces and objects that challenge and confront us as design historians. We invite submissions for guest blog posts from students, early career researchers, and established academics to those with a general interest in design history. Posts can be on any object or place from any era, anywhere in the world, which in some way encourages discussion and debate. Posts should be 500-800 words, accompanied by at least one image with associated credits and clearances, and a short bio. Please contact the DHS Senior Administrator, Dr Jenna Allsopp-Douglas for more information.