Ashford In Conversation

A Sea Change, into something rich and strange is a presentation of new work by artist Eleanor McCaughey. McCaughey’s practice explores thematic threads surrounding the body, identity and place, using symbols and metaphors that best express personal narratives. Watery hybrids, drowning dames, flailing females, peace offerings, magnetic moons, brain fog on the horizons and empathic monsters emerge in the work.

Throughout the making process, the artist has been in correspondence with poet Jill Kenny, sharing knowledge, myths, memories and personal narratives. Eleanor and Jill crossed paths on residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2023 and found common ground through lived experiences of sickness and healing. Jill Kenny was commissioned to write a piece for A Sea Change, into something rich and strange.

JILL KENNY BIO
Jill Kenny, Msc. Multimedia DCU, B.A Liberal Arts UCD, Cert in. Jungian Studies, C.G Jung Centre, grew up in Co. Tipperary. Residencies include multiple Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Grounding Cloughjordan. Publications include Future Perfect Anthology with preface by Michael D. Higgins, Arc, Canada’s national poetry magazine, Feral. Kenny has been a guest international performer at Tartu Poetry Festival, and is listed in Trócaire Ireland poetry competition, Over the Edge New Writer of the Year, Cathal Buí. She is recipient of Words Ireland/Poetry Ireland National Mentorship Programme with Markievicz awardee Joanna Walsh, where she is developing a hybrid written/visual book, Animal.

www.jillchloekenny.com

ELEANOR MCCAUGHEY BIO

Eleanor McCaughey’s work is developing through much research, experimentation, and personal healing, through a multifarious practice that includes installation, painting, sculpture, video, and sound.

Born in Dublin, Ireland. McCaughey studied at TU, Dublin. Selected exhibitions include; Whispers of rhythm balance on my hands, Draiocht, Dublin,2024, Swallowing Mist to Lick Your Mouth, Margate, UK, 2023, Forget Your Cares, Sow Your Wild Oats, sin is a Wonderful Disease, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, 2023, Bones in the Attic, Hugh Lane Gallery,Dublin, 2022, Super Market Art Fair, Stockholm, 2021, Vignettes, Richard Heller Gallery, LA USA, 2019

Eleanor McCaughey is a recipient of the Fingal County Council Bursary 2020-24, Arts Council Ireland Bursary Award 2020-23, RHA Residency Award 2022, The Temple Bar Project Award 2021, and the Next Generation Award 2018. Her work is represented in the OPW, Arts Council Ireland art collection, and private collections nationally and internationally.

www.eleanormccaughey.net

Information on the exhibition

A Sea Change, into something rich and strange is a presentation of new work by artist Eleanor McCaughey.

McCaughey’s practice explores thematic threads surrounding the body, identity and place, using symbols and metaphors that best express personal narratives. Watery hybrids, drowning dames, flailing females, peace offerings, magnetic moons, brain fog on the horizons and empathic monsters emerge in the work.

McCaughey's work is continually evolving through research, studio-based experimentation and current reflections on the body through lived experiences of endometriosis, infertility and menopause , out of which her conceptual concerns take shape. Looking at feminist phenomenology of art and form, this work is a personal attempt to express what it is to live in a female body. In the manifestation of this rich and strange world, the ‘woman’ arises in connection with female identity as she takes on multiple forms, as a mermaid, siren, bird, monster and negotiates the boundaries between mortal/divine, Christian/pagan, artificial and biological. Questioning the representation and construction of female social identity.

This work takes conceptual and aesthetic queues from the perpetually shifting coastal environment of Rossnowlagh, in Donegal. Recording climatic occurrences while roaming, listening, and mapping, the materiality of the work has been informed by gathering observations from naturally occurring forms, textures, colour, hues, tones, and light. The paintings, sculptures and installations embody the agency of the environment and memories of place past and present.

Throughout the making process, the artist has been in correspondence with poet Jill Kenny, sharing knowledge, myths, memories and personal narratives. Eleanor and Jill crossed paths on residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2023 and found common ground through lived experiences of sickness and healing. Jill Kenny was commissioned to write a piece for A Sea Change, into something rich and strange.

Image: Eleanor McCaughey, Many hands make light work (detail), 2024, Oil, crayon and gouache on Fabriano paper, 70 x 100cm, Image courtesy of the artist.

Host or Publisher RHA Gallery