Directions

I have now 'nailed down' some ideas about how I want my work to develop and what the final outcome for this module might be.  A series of paintings are planned based on the lives of women but particularly the lives of women in my home town of Derry.

My proposal describes  how the shirt making industry made a huge impact on the social and economic history of this town from the mid-Victorian era until the 1990's. There were up to 20,000 women employed around the 1940's.  The legacy of this industry is woven into the very fabric and oral history of Derry.

 I'm also looking at the symbolism of 'the shirt'  and how it was made primarily by women and worn almost exclusively by men.  I'm playing around with the shirt itself and the idea of the women 'claiming' the shirt as their own and putting it on.

I'm also exploring issues around creativity, the home and how this industry, by its repetitive piecemeal nature denys creativity.

  Interior of a shirt factory

Source:  http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/fox.htm