To coincide with national celebrations that mark St Brigid’s day, IMMA partners with Feminist Art Making Histories’ (IRC/AHRC) to present Ireland, Feminism, Art – A GATHERING. National and international guests come together to discuss Feminist Art Making Histories, with a special focus on the pioneering work and art historical legacy of women artist-activist group WAAG (1987 – 1991).

This historical GATHERING brings together intergenerational, cross-disciplinary and cross-border/s perspectives to probe the shared, yet occluded, cultural heritage of the encounter between art and feminism across the island of Ireland. The event will comprise of keynote talks, discussions, social conversation and gathering with WAAG members on the fitting occasion of Brigid’s Day, 2024.

Women Artists Action Group (WAAG) was an Irish feminist artists group founded with the goal of promoting the profile of women artists from across the island of Ireland and was active from 1987 to 1991.

Speakers include Principal Investigators on the FAMH project, Professor Hilary Robinson (Loughborough University, UK), Dr Tina Kinsella, (IADT), Dr Martina Mullaney (FAMH Researcher, IADT); Dr Fionna Barber (Manchester School of Art, UK); Pauline Cummins (Artist); Dr Alessia Cargnelli (Artist, Researcher); Sarah Kelleher (Member of Pluck Projects) and others.

Professor Hilary Robinson has written and edited numerous founding texts in feminist art history and theory, including Feminism/Art/Theory 1968-2000: An Anthology (Blackwell, 2001, 2 nd revised ed. 2015) and Visibly Female: Feminist Art Today (Camden, 1987). Both Professor Hilary Robinson and Dr Tina Kinsella Hilary are the curators of the FAMH project, and both have made a substantial contribution to writing about contemporary Irish female artists. They both will speak about FAMH project, feminism and art across the island of Ireland and this will provide the context and framing for the round table panel discussion,
that follows.

Round Table Discussion: A round table panel discussion will provide intergenerational, cross-disciplinary and cross-border/s perspectives on the historical, contemporary and potential future relationship between art and feminism (activism and politics) across the island of Ireland. Moderated by Dr Martina Mullaney (Postdoctoral Researcher of the FAMH project).

About Project
The ‘Feminist Art Making Histories’ research project is funded by UKRI-AHRC and the Irish Research Council under the ‘UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Digital Humanities Research Grants Call’. The ‘Feminist Art Making Histories’ (FAMH) research project is recording, curating, and creating a digital archive of oral histories and ephemera associated with artistic and feminist practices to explore the hidden history of the encounter between art and feminism in Ireland
and the UK since the 1970s. This unique archive will be held in perpetuity in the Digital Repository of Ireland.

Presented by Feminist Art Making Histories’ (IRC/AHRC) & IMMA