On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Maura Walsh Finnegan in 2021, where we get a glimpse of her creative process in producing her intriguing and poignant pieces.

Maura Finnegan is an artist based in the West of Ireland, graduate of the MA Creative Practice course at ATU

Her work investigates the unspoken dialogue of furtiveness in the human psyche and trauma in its many forms. Her practice is sculptural assemblage, the method of communicating the effects of prolonged suffering and trauma is through materiality. Familiar domestic objects associated with the female become ’embodiments of pain & loss.’ Nylon tights, bedding, bandage, undergarments, upholstery foam are some of the materials she uses. Her soft/sculptural forms are exposed to an almost violent deconstructive creative process – ripping, tearing, knotting, slicing, piercing, burning etc – exposing the bruised contents. The thread of materiality undergoing this transmutational force both reveals & conceals simultaneously.

Artist Statement:

"Creativity shows up differently in every Artist’s studio.

This Artist’s Creativity was not a cheery sort. This Artist’s Creativity was a beast with an unfiltered, unapologetic darkness within.

For had it not been ignored, suppressed and jeered at for countless years, waiting?

One night, Creativity spat at the Artist;

“Bring me the stuff of your ordinary life, your daily grind, your lived experience. Bring me the

materials you discard, the dirt, the grime, your tears and pain. Bring me the labours of your mother,

grandmothers and all your history – and I will show you, Artist, who you really are …."

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For more information, follow Maura Finnegan on Instagram @biddy_turner

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Ultraviolet Art Talks Season 10 EP04 Maura Walsh Finnegan