The experiences of older women will be explored in a new exhibition and accompanying symposium (an informal conference) coming to the South Tipperary Arts Centre (STAC) in May.

The exhibition is the work of Na Cailleacha (The Witches), a collective of eight older, creative women.

They are all based in Ireland, but come from Holland, England and Switzerland, as well as Ireland.

Six of the women are artists, one is a musician and another is an art writer and curator.

The aim of the work is to take stock of their collective experience over many years: their attitudes to ageing and the wider community, their bodies, how they relate to culture and heritage and their experience of COVID-related isolation.

As part of creating the exhibition, they spent a month together at Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Co Mayo last September.

The work will show online from 7 May to 12 June. The exhibition will have both visual and audio elements.

Symposium

The symposium, The Age of Reason/Unreason, will be live-streamed from STAC on Saturday 29 May.

The guest speaker is Rose Ann Kenny, professor of medical gerontology at Trinity College.

Gerontology is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive and biological aspects of aging.

Na Cailleacha members will present a series of workshops around their practices also.

They hope to interrogate Gloria Steinem’s idea that women become more radical with age and to open their experiences to a wider cohort.

Na Cailleacha

The group is made up of:

  • Therry Rudin, an artist and film maker based in Co Tipperary.
  • Helen Comerford, a painter and educator based in Co Kilkenny.
  • Barbara Freeman, a painter and new media artist based in Belfast.
  • Gerda Teljeur, an artist based in Co Wicklow.
  • Patricia Hurl, a painter and performance artist based in Co Tipperary.
  • Maria Levinge, a painter based in Co Wexford.
  • Carole Nelson, a composer, pianist and saxophonist based in Co Carlow.
  • Catherine Marshall, curator, art writer and art historian, based between Dublin and Kilkenny.
  • These dates are subject to change due to COVID restrictions. See https://www.southtippartscentre.ie/ or follow in social media channels for updates.

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