The Hurt and Healing of ‘Brexitannia’: Towards a Gendered Take on Brexit Visual Cultures

This article examines the manifestations of the national allegory of ‘Britannia’ in the contemporary moment defined by Brexit. The representations of ‘Brexitannia’ in commemorative coins, illustrations to opinion pieces, music videos, and advertising campaigns that have emerged during or since the UK referendum on the EU are argued to reveal forms of women’s agency and/or emancipation used in the name of British nationhood and Brexit. ‘Brexitannia’ reveals both national hurt and healing, and through her agency covers over and heals national wounds that the vote for Brexit has exposed.