In Her Steps: The Card Game — Where Feminist History and Queer Joy Get Played, Not Just Read

There's a particular kind of magic I feel when history stops being something you memorize and becomes something you can hold in your hands, argue about with friends, and pass across a kitchen table. That's exactly what I've tried to build with In Her Steps: The Card Game, an exhibition and playable installation I'm showing at Liminal Gallery from 11 to 27 July 2026.

I'm debuting two decks: The Feminist Card Game and The Queer Card Game. I recreated every single card as a one-of-a-kind handmade ceramic tile, turning what could have been a simple card game into a room-filling installation where portraiture and play collide. I scored each figure across categories drawn from their life, achievements, and cultural impact, not to hand down a verdict, but to spark exactly the kind of debate that makes history feel alive again.

This card game didn't appear out of nowhere for me. It grew out of my earlier installation, Turner's Female Contemporaries, where I resurfaced more than a hundred women artists who worked alongside J.M.W. Turner and had been largely written out of the record. That project evolved into In Her Steps, my ongoing, now-permanent installation of hundreds of handmade ceramic tiles portraying women born before 1900, drawn from Margate, Kent, and beyond. I've paid particular attention to working-class women and women of color whose stories are so often left out of history books entirely.

I timed The Queer Card Game to launch alongside Pride Month, expanding my project's lens from feminist history into LGBTQ+ figures and legacy. To me it's a natural extension of the same idea: visibility matters, and the people who shaped culture, art, science, and social progress deserve to be remembered by name, not filed away as a footnote. Ten percent of the proceeds from every deck I sell is shared between Oasis Domestic Abuse Service and Not a Phase, a nationwide trans-led charity, so the game supports the same communities it celebrates.

What matters most to me isn't just the concept, it's the intention behind it. I've always believed art should be something we can "interact with, question and talk about," not just look at quietly from a distance. That's why individual ceramic tiles and full decks are available to buy, so the conversations that start in my gallery can keep going at home, in classrooms, or among friends.

If you're in or near Margate between 11 and 27 July, I'd love for you to stop by. Entry is free, and the gallery's open Thursday through Saturday, 11am to 4pm, or by appointment. Whether you come for the art, the history, or the chance to finally play a card game that centers feminist and queer icons instead of sidelining them, I hope In Her Steps: The Card Game is worth your trip.