On Tuesday 11 February, ARTS SOCIETY WOKING’s talk is New Dawn. A Memorial for Women’s Suffrage, Houses of Parliament. Speaker Mary Branson is best known for her large-scale conceptual light installations, particularly the iconic New Dawn 2016 sculpture in the Houses of Parliament, which celebrates the centenary of the Suffrage movement and is the first permanent piece of contemporary abstract art in the Palace of Westminster. She has created works for the London 2012 Olympics, The Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede, Royal Holloway University and more recently Harvest, a huge site-specific installation at Box Hill, Surrey in collaboration with the National Trust. Branson is an award-winning print maker, a choreographer for performance and dance events, and a mentor and public speaker, having lately returned from a lecture tour to New York and Washington DC. She has held a number of artistic residencies, including for Parliament and HM Prison service, where she led an art group for women prisoners. Branson is artist in residence at Watts Gallery. Talks start at 10.30am but doors open 9.45am for tea and coffee. The venue is Normandy Village Hall, GU3 2DT. Members may bring a visitor, who may want to make a donation to the Society of £6. Visit www.wokingdfas.org.uk/talks-arts-society-woking-2024.htm.