Artist fights waste with waste
An art exhibition using mostly found plastic from local beaches and collected recyclables will open in Cork city next week.
‘Under 9 Waves’ is Leeside artist Helen O’Shea’s new solo exhibition in which she explores the journey of waste plastics in the sea while challenging mankind’s perceptions of the deep underworld.
The exhibition runs from 14 November until 20 December at Studio 12, Backwater Artists Group on Wandesford Quay.
In creating ‘Under 9 Waves’, O’Shea reimagines harmful debris found along Cork’s coastline, using it to create creatures reminiscent of marine life. To do this, she uses techniques and equipment synonymous with fibre and textile arts such as the sewing machine, tacking pins, and embroidery threads.
The process begins with collecting throwaway plastics, mulling their material qualities, and exploring their potential forms.
Described as an act of disobedience, O’Shea’s work treasures discarded waste and treats it as a medium of resistance that makes a direct statement about the ecological damage it causes.
An inspiration for O’Shea is American feminist scholar Donna Haraway who talks about the futile hope of imagining a different future, free of environmental disaster, but calls for the imminent necessity to commit to the trouble of the present, to stick with it, own our current conditions rather than spiral to apocalyptic doom!
The exhibition is curated by Rachel Botha and includes an accompanying text by Irish writer and artist Suzanne Walsh.
Helen O’Shea is a Cork-based artist who has exhibited her work internationally, with much of her work focusing on issues of waste and recycling.
After exploring creative textiles and fine art textiles, O’Shea attained a degree in Contemporary Applied Art in 2017, and MA by Research from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design in 2021 where she focussed on new narratives for waste.
Since graduating, O’Shea has exhibited widely in London with Ting-Ying Gallery as part of Collect Art Fair with Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI). She has also exhibited in the Venetian Homo Faber in 2022, in Maestros del Futuro in Castillo de San Jorge, Seville in 2023, Révélations 2023 Paris with the World Craft Council of Europe, and in Objects of Contemplation with Make Hauser & Wirth, London in 2024.
‘Under 9 Waves’ runs from 14 November until 20 December, Tuesday to Friday, from 10am-1pm, and from 2-5pm at Backwater Artists Group on Wandesford Quay, Cork city.