Archetype is a new site-specific installation exploring the relationship between motherhood and bereavement, and the often hyper-ridiculous media representations of female grief and ‘hysteria’. Accompanying Archetype is Uchronia, a series of real and alternate self-portraits examining life’s pivotal moments and how decisions, accidents and circumstances change us.

Both works invite questions on free will, fate and predestination. While Archetype investigates the tropes and stereotypes of the unhinged female in the wake of child-loss, and the inherent representation of an inevitable fall into madness, Uchronia looks at what would happen if divergent paths had been taken. Arising from the death of the artist’s son in 2000 and the subsequent birth of a surviving child, these works share themes of shame and regret layered with unexpected paths of humour and survival. Together they question whether we have the power to shift our own narratives.

Garter Lane Arts Centre
O’Connell Street, Waterford
T: 051 855038
E: gallery@garterlane.ie
W: garterlane.ie