As a ceramic artist, my practice combines material exploration with research into heritage, storytelling and the emotional weight that the objects can carry. My practice is rooted in Irish Heritage, the maternal lineage of the family and the quiet power that is behind my hand-made objects. Through hand-building, casting and surface experimenting, I am exploring how women’s histories are hidden by society. My work is shaped by lived experience and a commitment to honouring the stories.
My current project is based on ‘Family Secrets’. What had begun with me doing genealogy research has led me to reveal a family secret. The discovery that one of my dad’s ancestries had two daughters out-of-wedlock at a time when such things would have brought shame to the family and would have ruined a girl’s reputation. A time when she would have not only been kicked out of the family home but would have ended up in the workhouse. Her child could have been taken from her and may not have survived the workhouse. I know that my dad’s grandaunt did have both of her girls in a workhouse. I also know that they weren’t kicked out of the family home because their names appear in the 1911 Censes living with her parents. I don’t know how the people living around her would have treated her. Would she and her child been accepted or made to be out-casts.
I am hoping that by doing this project, that I can give back her place in society. To let her know that she has nothing to be ashamed of. To give her respect and peace. To tell the world her story, I want to right the wrong that was done not only to these women but others that found themselves in this same situation.