Emma Butterly

I have grown up in the same area in Ireland all my life. I live not far from Ardgillan Castle in north County Dublin, near the coast. I have spent much time there, from childhood to teenage years and during the Covid-19 pandemic, found it to be a particular haven.

During the pandemic, the Castle grounds provided a different significance where I was now seeing the wildlife, the flowers and fauna. It was a completely different place at that time, devoid of any of those childhood activities I had enjoyed. The fresh air seemed empty, not a single sound of people, only sounds of trees and leaves moving in the wind and my own footsteps.

The emptiness drew my attention to the historical castle and to its lost occupants. The story goes – there was a couple who lived in the castle; one windy night the man went out fishing at the coast accessed from the grounds, but after hours he never returned so the woman went down to the coast bridge, she sat waiting for him but little did she know that her husband had got into difficulties and was dragged out to sea and drowned. The woman stayed on the bridge that night waiting hopelessly for her husband’s return, until she herself died!

I became interested in the period of history in which this event supposedly took place. I imagine her wringing her hands with worry, of fingers constantly twitching, maybe praying, of wishing to grab and pull her husband to safety. I imagine as she sat there, her gloves were put on and off, or picked at and ripped in desperation. The glove was such an important accessory for the well-heeled woman, yet it is intimate and signifies so much about the wearer.

I want to create a series of gloves that reflect this place and time and the lost memories of those that inhabited the castle, but also to capture the richness of the artefact and that of the natural surroundings.