BAD BRIDGET
Ulster American Folk Park - National Museums NI
Co. Omagh, Northern Ireland
The 'Bad Bridget' exhibition at the Ulster American Folk Park & Museum tells the stories of the thousands of women who left Ireland for North America between 1838 and 1918, many of which found themselves in trouble and struggling to survive.
I was commissioned by National Museums Northern Ireland to create a suite of large scale illustrations that would act as the main visual content to Bad Bridget, each illustration referred to a part of these women's journey; Life in Ireland, The Journey, Tenement Life, and finally Life in America. As well as six portraits of real life women who had emigrated and sat alongside voice recordings of their life stories.
The creative approach was to emulate the experience young Irish women would have had stepping off the boat into America. It would have been a complete culture shock with the new people, sights, technology etc. A more contemporary style of illustration, such as mine with graphic line work & bold colour palettes was able to reflect this.
