In 1991, the first British astronaut flew into space and orbited the earth for 8 days aboard the Mir space station. And she was a woman.

Helen Sharman

, a 27-year-old from Sheffield, made British 'herstory'.

Photo: Earth Observation, NASA

Helen's space odyssey began in Sheffield. She was the first woman ever to visit the Mir space station. This artwork highlights the idea that it makes no difference where you start off from; it's where you end up that matters.

Photo: Earth Observation, NASA

Until Helen blasted off on her very own star trek, no woman had ever visited the Mir space station. makes both a playful reference to gender and the profoundly serious point that women are trailblazers, pioneers, experts, and 'herstory' makers.

Photo: Microgravity, NASA

All power must come to an end, in the end. It makes no difference who holds it. The temporariness of power limits its use and the potential for misuse. Anyone in power would do well to be mindful of the inherent precariousness of their position.

In a military conflict, women and children are particularly at risk. describes the disruption of domestic life and the ever-present risk of violence or uninvited sexual attention experienced by one woman during a South-American military coup.

'Cod Wars' broke out between the UK and Iceland in 1972 - the same year the UK's first Gay Pride march took place. To herald UK Pride's 50th anniversary year, lampoons the idea, prevalent in the 1970s, that someone could be turned gay, in this case by the sight of burly trawlermen in dispute over fishing rights.

New legislation, allowing TV companies to broadcast during the day, was passed in 1972 - the same year the first Gay Pride march took place in the UK. To herald UK Pride's 50th anniversary year, satirises the ludicrous idea, common in the 1970s, that someone could be turned lesbian, in this case by the sight of glossy daytime TV presenters.

This artwork restates a demand originally made by radical feminists and gay activists in the 1960s. This, and five other demands from the 60s were presented nationally to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.

The Gallery is the brainchild of arts producers Artichoke and public artist Martin Firrell. It can be thought of as an 'alternative national gallery' with no walls to hold the artworks in, or to keep anyone out.

Firrell's artwork for The Gallery depicts ‘manspreading’, banned on Madrid’s public transport as 'antisocial behaviour'. But when researchers asked women to rate the attractiveness of men in photographs, images where the men’s legs were spread apart were rated most highly.

French feminist theory of the 1970s suggested that any oppressor, by definition, has the power to shape all of the responses of the oppressed, including what the oppressed come to regard as erotic or desirable.

A 1947 public information film advises young people how to be popular. The artist reorganises the material to subvert the heteronormative assumptions of the film's narration, queering the protagonists so that the 'boy meets girl' story takes a distinctly different turn.

asked theologians, scientists, artists, atheists, and the general public, 'What makes your life meaningful?' Wildly diverse answers, from the domestic to the sexual to the sublime, were projected onto the Dome, West Front and Whispering Gallery to mark the cathedral's 300th anniversary.

The Arabic script for evokes humanity's shared fortune - we all live under, and depend on, the same sun regardless of differences in language, culture or belief.

is Martin Firrell's evocation of christ's betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and at the same time an acknowledgement of the importance of intimacy, of any kind, in any human life.

was commissioned by Duckie! for Tate Britain against the backdrop of two major conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was widespread sentiment that these wars were essentially colonial in motivation and illegal according to international law.

Is there a connection between violence, belief and masculinity? How important is it to differentiate between similar sounding ideas like 'security' and 'liberty', particularly in fear-filled and politically volatile times?

The artist presented the text again, on billboards, in 2019. This time, the 'dangerousness' referred to might be subtle and diffuse like the risk-taking that caused the financial crisis in 2008 or the gathering threat of climate change. Or it may point to the immediate and visceral dangers of anger, retribution and war.

was created during the artist's residency with the Household Division of the British Army.

The artwork reflects the views of military personnel (who regard military intervention as a last resort) and the artist's conversations with British philosopher A.C. Grayling.

In October 1967, The Mobe (National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam) organised an anti-war march in the USA to include the exorcism and levitation of the Pentagon.

Rituals and mantras would make the Pentagon rise 100 feet into the air, turn orange and vibrate. Allen Ginsberg described the levitation as a 'happening that undermined, psychologically, the authority of the Pentagon'.

The 'War Is Failure' artwork quotes visually from a button badge created at the time to publicise the planned levitation.

'Living Peacefully' echoes the more colourful 'Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity' (anti-Vietnam war placard, 1969).

The attempt to eliminate war with war is, of course, nonsensical. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela teach that radically different strategies are required. The counter culture movement embodied the ideal that the route to peace was peace itself.

Recent legislation has led to far-reaching restrictions on the right to peaceful protest. But liberty dies where there is agreement without thought or argument.

This artwork highlights protest's significance as a guarantor of freedom. If nothing can be contested, is freedom any longer present and actual?