Olivia Harrington
she/her
A Woman’s Place/Tuigim M’áit
My work explores the archive of Irish folklore, history, and culture. In my work, I am placing the women of Ireland, who for so long have been dismissed, at the forefront. The lives of Irish women have become lost to us; we eat the food they gave us and tell the stories they sung to us, yet we cannot know their faces. Irish women have become shrouded in a blanket woven by those who use them for culture and will not speak their names.
Women do not appear in our folklore and history without the lens of the male gaze, which distorts them into creatures we cannot recognise. My work removes this lens and explores the feminine spaces of the kitchen, staying up all night, the ocean, gossiping, and the moon. I am storytelling with a young woman's voice to gently place the forgotten girls back into our archive, where they belong.
Dream Blunt Rotation on Selkies Beach, watercolour, pen, pearlescent & sequin on pressed cotton
Margaret and her Cow have Tea in the Garden, acrylic & pearlescent on pressed cotton
Gurlz Nite Out!, acrylic on pressed cotton
Selkies get 3am Chipper Scran, watercolour, pen, letterpress, sequin & flowers on pressed cotton
Margaret and her Cow Make Scones in the Kitchen, acrylic on pressed cotton
Cover of A Woman's Place cookbook, acrylic on pressed cotton
Page from A.W.P', digital collage
Page from A.W.P, watercolour & pen on pressed cotton, with digital text
Page from 'A.W.P', digital collage
Page from A.W.P, watercolour & pen on pressed cotton, with digital text
Research
Ballymote in the Rain, watercolour on pressed cotton
D.B.R. on Selkies Beach, sketch watercolour & pen on pressed cotton
Selkies' Scran, sketch, watercolour & pen on pressed cotton
The Púca, acrylic on regular paper
Cú Chullain & his Boys & Dog, ink on regular paper