This project explores the lives of the women incarcerated in and the children born into the Magdalene Laundries, particularly The Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry, Clare St., Limerick, now Limerick School of Art and Design.
My work looks to express the innocence of the children and the weight of the grief the women must have felt from that forced separation. From their testimonials, it is evident the Magdalene women lived lives on high alert, with an impending sense of violence that can bring dread and disorientation.
In this ceramic work, I consider that sense of unrelenting tension I imagine they experienced and that constant fear of confinement. My work seeks to express the sense I have of the drudgery of their lives and that physical, daily repetitive work they had to do in the laundries.