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- Maura Rooney
Maura
Rooney
Women in Farming
I explored women’s long overlooked role within the farming industry in Ireland through photography, 2666 and interviews with women involved in the sector, from award winning dairy farmers to agricultural college lecturers. Women deserve to be honoured and celebrated for their contributions to this sector. This sparked an interest in me to further interrogate my own place in this community and how I perceive it and how am perceived within it.
Our Land
Growing up on our family farm in the west of Ireland, I developed a real appreciation for the land for its produce and beauty. The strong connection to the land has been passed from generation to generation, a true grá. I gravitated initially to a solid man made material, steel, at first using our farm maps as a starting point. I then gravitated to a familiar natural material – sheep wool. I washed and dyed a raw fleece myself and used this to further depict our land. It’s softness yet resilience. Nurturing life, physically and spiritually.