• Same Story, Different Tune: Mná na hÉireann’s Place in the Global Music Scene

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    In 1989, American audiences were formally introduced to Sinead O’ Connor. To the opening chords of ‘Mandinka’ the 21-year-old from Glenageary strode confidently across the gaping stage of the 31st Annual Grammy Awards; completely alone, briefly wiping her hand across her mouth and gazing out into the darkened crowd, unfazed. Torn jeans and Dr. Martens, she cut a striking image of unconventional female beauty, strength and unmatched musicianship. Sidestepping and shuffling unperturbed across the stage and ultimately the threshold of global success, O’ Connor at this time appeared to bookmark the redefinition of what it meant to be an Irish…

  • Autonomy: A book about taking our selves back

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    What is bodily autonomy? What does it feel like when it’s taken away? This is a women-led collection of stories, poems, memoirs, essays and more exploring what it means to have bodily autonomy. Read it if you don’t understand why no-one should ever be forced to stay pregnant against their will. Read it if you do understand, and would like to be part of the change. I’ve been attending pro-choice street stalls for years now.  It’s changed so much: I’m hardly ever verbally abused any more, people want to know how they can help.  But there are still too many…

  • Ink for Thought: Female Tattoo Artists of The North Unite

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    Our photographer Sara Marsden meets up with five strong Northern Irish female Tattoo artists to take their portraits and allow them to discuss their work and goals in their own words. I got my first tattoo in July 2014; an outline of an anchor on my right ankle. Highly original, I know, but I was in love with all things nautical for some reason and it just felt right. I had always been obsessed with tattoos and itching for the day I would get one. Since then my skin has become more and more adorned with artwork, and I have…

  • It’s Not Always About Your Fanny – Aoife Dooley on Gender in Comedy

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    People always say to me ‘it must be very difficult being a woman in comedy in this day and age’ why? because I have a fanny? The short answer is, for me, it doesn’t make a difference. Growing up in Coolock I used to hang out with a group of lads. We played football, kick the can, manhunt, the lot. I was always involved in sport and other activities with both sexes and if anyone told me otherwise, i’d stick it to them. I’ve always had this outlook throughout my life and never let someone tell me I couldn’t do…

  • Repeal and Appeal: Lisa Marie on Bodily Autonomy and Performance

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    I remember the first time I stepped on stage as a fresh faced student in school about 15 years ago. I don’t even remember the pre-show nerves but one thing that stayed with me was the buzz I had afterwards and it’s something that has stuck with me. So it’s no wonder that when given the opportunity to step back on stage as a 20 something year old, I jumped at the chance. I started my burlesque journey on the incredible stage of The Sugar Club for the Dublin Burlesque Festival as part of burlesque troupe La Folie Déshabille. It…

  • Oh and by the way, I am a woman too – Aoife McCann of Æ MAK

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Overall my experience so far in the Irish Music Industry has been a positive and supported one. Unfortunately the music business is most definitely a business. Like any business it boils down to who you know and what connections and contacts you make along the way to enable a further reach for your music. Ireland’s music scene is very small in comparison to London’s or L.A’s but being small it also has its advantages as once you’ve been working in it for a few years you just end up meeting and getting to know almost everyone else moving in it;…

  • Bare Bones: A Conversation with Landless

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    One of our 18 for ’18 Irish artists, Landless are a rarity in today’s traditional music landscape. Their unaccompanied vocal folk has been described by ourselves – and doubtless many others – as ‘evocative, celestial, ethereal and, above all, extremely resonant’. Having formed in 2013, their debut album, Bleaching Bones – recorded in a variety of sonically rich, luxurious spaces – finally gets its release tomorrow through recently-formed Irish independent imprint, Humble Serpent. Alongside acts like Lankum and Brigid Mae Power, they’re responsible for the establishment of folk music that’s as appropriate today as it was in its stages of infancy; a conduit for the human spirit, and a platform from which greater ideas…

  • Never Judge a Book by its Cover: A Conversation with Maura McHugh

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Maura McHugh is a writer based in the West of Ireland, predominantly working in comic books, prose (fiction and non-fiction) and works for the stage and screen. She recently made history by signing on as one of the first official writers of the upcoming all female special of 2000AD, the renowned British comic book series and dwelling of the indomitable Judge Dredd. She talks to Loreana Rushe about her work, female heroes and diversity in the comic book industry. What do you enjoy most about writing comics and how did you get into the industry? I love working with artists. That collaborative process, when…

  • Wading in Shallow Waters – Louise Cunnane of Lilac Glass

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    I’m in a small town in County Mayo and I’m pregnant. Now let’s not get too excited. I’m 28. I just left Dublin and I am briefly staying at my parents house before I move to London. I’m a musician and the last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind. There’s managers and labels and producers getting in touch. My EP is out. I have just put a band together and we are getting ready to play our first show. I can’t have a baby. It’s not the right time for me. I refuse to buy a test…

  • Exhibition: Nasty Women Dublin

    August 3, 2017 - By 

    Opening tonight in Dublin’s Pallas Projects & Studios is Nasty Women Dublin. Originating in New York, the fundraising initiative has spread to over 40 destinations globally and is described as: “a global art movement that serves to demonstrate solidarity among artists who identify with being a Nasty Woman in the face of threats to roll back women’s rights, individual rights, and abortion rights. With over forty fundraising art exhibitions taking place around the United States and abroad, Nasty Women Exhibitions also serve to support organisations defending these rights and to be a platform for organisation and resistance.” For this incarnation…