Kerri McEvoy

Kerri McEvoy (b. 1983) is an interdisciplinary artist from Monaghan, Ireland. Her work is concerned with societal and institutional conditioning and subsequent prevalence of violence against women. Her interest in theatre, film and television stems from childhood, accompanying her mother's pursuit in amateur dramatics and the ever present hum of the TV.

McEvoy received her Bachelor of Design in printed textiles from NCAD, Dublin. Having worked in the Textile, Fashion and Beauty industries for over fifteen years, she returned to study in 2020, undertaking a Post Graduate Diploma at the Royal College of Art. Graduating in 2021 with a distinction, she continued in pursuit of an MA in Print. She currently lives and works in London.

When we've liberated ourselves we will have to ask who we are. - Women Talking, Sarah Polley, screenwriter.

My practice has taken the shape of a personal examination. I am perhaps attempting to deconstruct and assess my own experiences and create connections to dismantle and dispel feelings of shame.

I have been collecting objects and have simultaneously been engaging with processes of erasure. Objects have the potential to evoke thought and emotion, to forge connections. I find myself thinking through collecting and creating a bricolage of sorts, the construction of a fictional setting embedded with material that once accompanied previous lives. I have predominantly collected objects familiar to me in my formative years, while questioning decisions I have made personally and more broadly, societal conditioning. Collecting additional objects more familiar to previous generations of women has evoked thoughts on indoctrination and subsequent transgenerational trauma.

Thinking on how process reveals experience, I have used modes of erasure, in response to my thoughts on violence, specifically violence against women and domestic violence. Erasure has involved sanding my own image; a passport photo, etching the same image until the plate becomes paper thin, redacting legal documents and painting over a script. The inclusion of materials removed and traces of what once was may invite thoughts on reduction, transformation and remains.

I am seeking to engage with understandings of girlhood and womanhood. Through the introduction of concealed audio, I am questioning the culture of silence surrounding this shared female experience, the circularity of violence and shame. What happens when we decline to conform to societal expectations? When we are liberated to ask ourselves who we are.