The exhibition And the One Doesn’t Stir without the Other took place at the Ormeau Baths Gallery from July 24th to August 31st 2003 and included works by the artists Hannah Wilke, Ana Mendieta, Claude Cahun, Helen Chadwick, Lucy Gunning, Jananne Al-Ani and Sandra Johnston. As guest curators at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, we aimed to create an exhibition which explored ideas around the representation of female geneaology and feminine desire within art practices which spanned several generations. And the One Doesn’t Stir without the Other was the first exhibition in Ireland of this scale and ambition to explore feminine identity. None of the works included had previously been exhibited in Ireland and the public seminar hosted by OBG, chaired by Hilary Robinson and with guest speakers Whitney Chadwick, Marsha Meskimmon and Pauline Cummins, developed into a rigorous public debate, revealing that issues surrounding gender and representation are still highly relevant and in a constant process of re-evaluation.

This publication aims to operate both as a document of the exhibition, but also as an opportunity to place the project within a wider context of gender debates internationally and within the context of feminist practice in Ireland. To this end, six artists either based in Ireland or working in Ireland whose work was not included in the original show, but whose practices share some common themes with the project, have been invited to contribute images and text for the publication. These artists are Heather Allen, Pauline Cummins, Cathy Wilkes, Mary McIntyre, Kate Byrne and Alanna O’Kelly.

Ruth Jones and Ursula Burke

Image Credits