The Little Museum of Dublin presents the Shadowed Women exhibition

The first installment in the museum’s 2016 centenary programme, this specially commissioned exhibition presented exquisite embroidered portraits by textile artist Ciara Harrison on the second floor of the Little Museum.

The collection featured seven portraits focusing on the wives of prominent rebel leaders. These delicate and sensitive works gave recognition to the commitment, sacrifice, intellect, bravery and loyalty of the women who lived in the shadows of the 1916 Rising.

The personal narratives of these women had been marked in Sinead McCoole’s Easter Widows (2014) which detailed the stories of seven couples and the subsequent lives of the women after the loss of their husbands.  This new exhibition served to visually commemorate the lives of these women and encouraged conversation about the different roles of women during the Easter Rising of 1916.  

Using a remarkable process involving the transfer of charcoal drawings from photographs to cotton organdy, Ciara’s methods produced sewn portraits that feel like living portraits; ghostly embroidered faces with incredible detail that rewards closer examination.

“We are really excited to be presenting Ciara’s work as part of our 2016 centenary programme” said Little Museum curator Simon O’Connor. “The tactility of the medium and hand-drawn qualities of her stitch-work conveys a wealth of meaning and speaks to the human stories inspiring these portraits.”

Ciara Harrison is a textile design graduate of NCAD. Her work has been exhibited extensively in Ireland and Europe.