Performing Resistance, Care and Labour: Feminist Art and Activism in an Irish Context | Helena Walsh | Rallying the Commons

This writing was created for perfromingborders’ 2022 e-journal: Rallying the Commons

Helena Walsh shares important reflections on how artist groups have collectivized and organized to support feminist pro-abortion campaigns in Ireland and how the introduction of basic income for artists is creating hope in the country.

Read the text HERE.

Image Credit: Helena Walsh, (2012) In Pursuit of Pleasure, LABOUR, Void Gallery (Photo Jordan Hutchings)

Helena Walsh is an Irish live artist. She has been based in London since 2003. Her practice explores the relations between gender, national identity and cultural histories. Walsh has performed widely in galleries, museums, theatres and non-traditional art spaces, including public sites. She graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design with a BA in Fine Art in 2001 and completed her Masters in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2004. In 2013 she completed a practice-based PhD in the Department of Drama, Queen Mary University of London focussed on Live Art and femininity in post-conflict Ireland. Walsh is a founder member of the pro-choice feminist performance group Speaking of IMELDA (Ireland Making England the Legal Destination for Abortion). Between 2013 and 2018 she played a key role in sustaining the collective collaborations of Speaking of IMELDA, contributing to the development of the group’s public performances, publications and media campaigns. Walsh regularly presents and writes on feminist performance practice. She has published in collections focussed on live art and the performing arts in an Irish context. She is a lecturer at the University of the Arts, London.