Pioneering Irish diaspora women by artist Szabolcs Karikó
BLAZING A TRAIL
In 2018, Herstory initiated and co-produced Blazing a Trail with EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum and the Department of Foreign Affairs. This is first women’s exhibition to tour the Irish Embassy network worldwide.
On Brigid’s Day 2019 it was showcased at the United Nations in New York and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The exhibition has toured to 55 Irish Embassies, inspiring other nations to celebrate their heroines.
““History needs Herstory. It is not only the right thing to do but the smart thing to do.”
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Blazing a Trail celebrates the lives and legacies of 21 pioneering Irish diaspora women of the 19th and 20th centuries who blazed a trail in a wide range of fields.
The exhibition marks the centenary of partial women’s suffrage, the right of Irish and British women to vote in elections. Individual Irishwomen across the globe struggled for their own professional recognition, and for justice and equality for others.
Some of the Irish women featured in ‘Blazing a Trail’ include designer and architect Eileen Gray; computer programming pioneer Kay McNulty; poet, mystic and trade unionist Eva Gore-Booth; tennis champion Mabel Cahill; medical missionary Sr Dr Maura Lynch; and ‘most dangerous woman in America’ Mother Jones.
As part of the exhibition, Hungarian artist and Herstory art director Szabolcs Karikó created original portraits of several of the women:
Watch the ‘Blazing a Trail’ video, featuring Tara Flynn, Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, Dr Ciara Kelly and Dr Niamh Shaw picking their most influential figures from the exhibition: