Sarah critiques suppressed female archetypes, the politics of representation, nationhood and myth through the lens of feminism. I Want To Talk About Ireland engages in visual fictioning across painting, performance, sound and writing as material. With this new body of work, Sarah uses her autofictional persona Mary, a modern day iteration of the Mother Ireland figure, alongside the aesthetics and fluidity of girlhood, as a mode of criticality.

The work expands on the tradition of the aisling—Aisling is the Irish term for ‘dream’ or ‘vision’. It is also the name of a poetic genre where the Irish nation appears to the poet as a woman, often employed to reflect on the political and social concerns of any given times.

Invoking the language of dreams, Sarah identifies reverberations in Irish culture and combines these references with personal stories and motifs. She views this rearranging and reinterpreting of histories and visualities as an act of feminist fictioning, highlighting moments and ideas that haunt, shape and subjugate our collective consciousness, specifically our notions of the Irish nation.

• Exhibition Opening Reception: 24 September, 5pm, Triskel Arts Centre

TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space

TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space is a partnership between Triskel Arts Centre and Sample-Studios, one of Ireland’s largest artist studios. It provides a developmental project space for visual artists to test ideas, create new work and take risks within a hybrid artist workspace/public exhibition space.

TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space was established in March 2024. Since then, it has hosted 44 artists who undertook 12 residencies, presented 13 Exhibitions, and facilitated 49 Free Public Events.

Visitors are invited to explore the Project Space and engage with residents’ and their work.