"Quiet Revolution" was short-listed for the Zurich Portrait Prize 2018, at the National Gallery of Ireland and was the first portrait of the series. I choose to create a portrait of doctor, mum and campaigner for T.F.M.R. Siobhan Donohue. Siobhan was diagnosed with a fatal fetal abnormality and had to travel to the UK for an abortion. When I first heard Siobhan speak at the Repeal march on International Women’s Day, her story brought tears to my eyes. I met Siobhan just three days after the referendum result at the National Gallery after making contact with her on Twitter. We decided to meet after the result so the portrait could be appropriate to the outcome. I took some photographs that I worked from to create the piece. The portrait captures both her strength and her relief after the result. The portrait was completed in just two weeks of constant stitching. I choose the hand embroidery technique as it was originally associated with a past time to keep women busy in the home. The process is similar to painting, but with the mixing of colours happening on canvas by blending of threads rather than on a palette. The intersecting and overlapping strands of colour are evocative of the complexity of the struggle for women’s rights in Ireland. Here Siobhan and the thousands of individual stitches represent all the women affected by the 8th amendment and those that fought to repeal it. I am so happy that the portrait was able to acknowledge and commemorate these women on a National platform. Huge thank you to Siobhan Donohue for agreeing to be part of this project and for helping to make Ireland a better place.

The second portrait “Trailblazer” was Highly Commended in the Zurich Portrait Prize 2020 at the National Gallery of Ireland. It is a portrait of activist Ailbhe Smyth, who has done so much to mould the Ireland we live in today. Ailbhe Smyth is a feminist, LGBTQI and human rights activist and campaigner. The founding head of Women’s Studies at UCD, she has published widely on feminism, politics and culture.  Ailbhe played a leadership role in the same-sex marriage referendum campaign in 2015, and was co-director of the Together for Yes abortion referendum campaign in 2018.  Nominated to various State boards over the years, she also chaired the National Lesbian and Gay Federation for a decade. Currently, she is Chair of Women’s Aid, and of Ballyfermot STAR Addiction Services, and is a member of the board of Age Action (Ireland). She was named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2019 for her work in repealing the 8th Amendment.  I met Ailbhe at her home after a few short emails in January 2020, we had tea and chatted about how Ireland had finally taken a big step forward for women's rights. I took some photos to work from and was on my way, little did I know that the portrait would be created during a global pandemic, while I worked from home with my one year old son. I didn't think I would get it finished in time for the deadline but Ailbhe Smyth had inspired me to do just that. “Trailblazer” was featured on the leaving certificate mock exam paper in 2024.

The third portrait in the series “Matriarch” celebrates the life of Jennie Wyse Power, Irish activist, feminist, politician, businesswoman and mother. The portrait was commissioned by Wicklow County Council and is on permanent exhibit in Baltinglass Library. Power born into a Fenian family in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, was a central figure in revolutionary Ireland, and played important roles in the land league movement, the 1916 rising, the civil war and new free state. Power ran a shop and vegetarian restaurant at 21 Henry Street, Dublin, called ‘The Irish Farm and Produce Company’. Many key figures in the republican movement met and ate at 21 Henry Street, the proclamation of independence was even signed there and during the 1916 rising she made regular trips from her restaurant to the GPO to keep the rebels fed. Power was a founding member of Cumann na mBan, vice president of Sinn Fein, secretary and executive member of the ladies land league, a member of Dublin corporation, a judge in the republican courts, chairperson of various public health committees, a senator for the free state to name just some of her achievements. Power was a member of Dublin Women’s Suffrage Society and fought adamantly for women’s rights all her life. In her personal life Jennie was married to one of the founders of the GAA and had four children. She tragically lost two of her daughters one as a baby and one as an adult just after the 1916 rising. Power did not kill or die for Ireland, she played arguably the harder role that many matriarchal figures do, a role that’s in the background, organising, making sure what needs to be done is getting done. The portrait depicts a young Jennie, with her full life ahead of her. Her gaze is hopeful and strong, almost looking into the future of Ireland. She wears a brooch depicting a fenian symbol to represent her family, particularly her brother who died in the Fenian Rising in 1867. The rising sun symbol was also a symbol associated with the 1916 rising. The pattern stitched on her clothes is of oats and wheat, to acknowledge the significance of her business both as a meeting place and in its pioneering role in championing Irish produce and the plant based diet. The fan Jennie is holding features a line from a poem about Power and the role of women in the revolutionary period by Jane Clarke, it says “So quickly forgot the women who’d served”. Palms leafs are seen as symbols of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life, so it is apt that Power is surrounded by them in the portrait to remember and celebrate her legacy.