Thank you 4Culture for supporting my new project: Witness

My grandma lived a hard life and worked as a milliner. Her beautiful hats were shared amongst her six sisters who all had their own collections. Over the years, the women in my family have passed down their hats and I have come to have a large collection of beautiful, wacky, sophisticated and esoteric hats. I am using the hat as an icon of women to tell their stories.

There’s a lot of talk currently referring to mid century as “the good old days”.  These harsh and difficult times were good for a privileged few. Witness shares the stories of the other women. I have been recording women in conversation both here and in Ireland. The stories speak to the female condition, those who have passed along mixed with stories of elders and younger women coming of age. I have found certain themes  through collecting the stories, with similarities through time.