Ulysses and the deep feminine

My work has always explored the space between Ireland where I grew up and England where I now live, and women's lives throughout history and within culture and art. In the past my work emerged through landscape, particularly the boglands in Ireland where I grew up.

From observing and painting this landscape I began to understand my connection with the land and my internal narrative. This landscape which had been my muse since childhood has dramatically changed recently, with the raising of 30 wind turbines. I was amazed at the impact these had on this landscape and on me. It felt as though the landscape had developed Alzheimer’s and broken its connection to the past, and that I had lost my visual and visceral connection with it.

At about the same time,  I began to discover James Joyce’s Ulysses and to study it as a way to explore embodiment in a new way. For me this embodiment suggests that everything I experience in the world becomes part of my physical and emotional history and narrative. Ulysses has poetic fluidity and multi layered meanings; it's like an archaeological dig which I find magical.

I am fascinated with Joyce’s focus on the body, and it has become a very rich resource for understanding my journey through nature and art. I am also exploring some of the questions that have arisen as a result of the visual changes in my childhood landscape.