Artist Statement
This sheet is a culmination of my work during the project. The sheet itself is dedicated to the women of Armagh prison who took part in the five-year dirty protest where they would smear their period blood on the cell walls. I used blueberries to get the colour and smeared it on the sheet to create the backdrop we see here.
Across the sheet are screen prints, image transfers and stitched fabric. The items adorned on the sheet that were most important to my project were the images of the women themselves. I chose three for the piece. One being Bernadette Devlin, an Irish politician and activist, Margaretta D’Arcy, author, activist and political prisoner and my own mother.
The word “Saoirse” is an Irish word meaning freedom, this was a very important word for the project as it is associated with the Irish War of Independence.