Margarita Cappock and Hannah Baker review works from the oeuvre of artist Sarah Cecilia Harrison
Artist and friend of the poor’ – this succinct inscription on the grave of Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863–1941) in Mount Jerome Cemetery captures the life of a woman whose contribution to the political and cultural fabric of Dublin has, until recently, been largely overlooked. Her achievements are many – as an artist, an activist and social campaigner, and as the first woman elected as a councillor to Dublin Corporation in 1912. She campaigned tirelessly to improve living and working conditions for Dublin’s poor, including better-quality housing and access to food. Her passion for the rights of women meant that she was a key activist in the Irish suffrage movement.
