Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.37.208
Object Name
Poster
Title
Save St Mary's Hospital
Place
Paddington Printshop, London
People
Paddington Printshop; St Mary's Hospital
Description
Screenprinted poster, âSave St Mary's hospital.â The lettering is stylised as snakes and ladders. Below, taking up most of the poster, is a snakes and ladders game board with various messages written on the squares. For example, âstaff vacancies not replacedâ is a square that has a snake on it. âFundraising danceâ and âhundreds attend midnight torch vigilâ are squares that have ladders on. At the bottom of the page is a net design for a die and for colour circles, suggesting that the poster can be cut up and a die can be made and the colour dots can be used as markers to play this version of snakes and ladders about St Mary's hospital.
This poster was made by Paddington Printshop, a community graphic design and print workshop in West London, co-founded by John Phillips and Pippa Smith. Between 1975-1991, the centre printed over 400 designs for left-wing community organisations. These publicised local political campaigns such as housing rights and food co-ops, to social gatherings including play days, gardening clubs, gigs and festivals. Their do-it-yourself style was part of the proto-punk ethos.
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