I am a mixed media artist interested in exploring themes from a female perspective and themes of mental health. For my latest work, I have been exploring the theme of women as a commodity. I chose mainly ceramics for this project as unlike women it doesn't have an expiry date and both women and ceramics are some of the earliest commodities. Women and their body parts are often compared to food. It suggests that women's purpose is there to be consumed. I created the piece Blas na mBan inspired by this concept. At first glance, the works resemble familiar foods and produce. However, each object is drawn from slang terms historically used to describe women, their shape or parts of their bodies. By creating these ceramic forms, it reduces the female body to consumable parts that can be easily arranged, priced, displayed, and sold. I chose a farmers market type stall to bring it back to traditional ways of buying and selling. It becomes a site where humour and discomfort intersect, where the visual display masks a deeper critique of how women’s bodies are assigned value. Through satire and visual excess, Blas na mBan exposes the absurdity embedded within everyday speech. What is often dismissed as playful slang is revealed as a vocabulary of consumption, commerce, and control. The viewer is positioned not only as observer, but as customer.
