Mary Kelly: Women in Seanad Éireann 1922 to 2022, 175 x 150cm, 2022; installation view
Women in Seanad Éireann 1922 to 2022 • 175 x 150cm photographic print of 221 images of the women elected to Seanad Éireann from 1922 to 2022. An enlarged image of Cait Honan is amalgamated in a background transparency with the smaller images to form an art image.
This Artwork is in honour of the women elected to the Seanad in the past 100 years. The image is box framed with Optium Museum grade acrylic AR-UV99.
Six years ago I took part in a tour of Leinster House. Looking up I became aware of the many portraits in the entrance hallway and along the corridors of former Taoiseachs and Presidents. The visual impact of the paucity of females in these portraits struck me. Enquiring about the artists who painted the portraits I discovered there was almost none.
I was approached in 2022 to make an artwork for Leinster House celebrating the election of female Senators from 1922 to 2022 as part of the Centenary celebration of Seanad Eireann. There are 122 in total. Cait Honan was selected as the backdrop of the image. Born in 1930, she served as a senator for 15 years from 1977 to 1992. She is the only woman to date elected to Cathaoirleach of the Seanad. She was nominated and elected unopposed in 1982 and was reelected to the position in 1987.
Looking at their records I noticed that female senators made up approximately 5% of the total membership from 1922 to 1969. That year there was a jump to 8%I. Until 1992 there was a marginal increase to 10, 13 and 15%. In 1997 there was an increase to 18% and 2007 to 21%. In 2011,it reached 30% and 2020 40%. Currently 22.5% of females are TD’s and 40% are senators. It is gratifying to see this progress in the Seanad.
Commenting on “Women in the Seanad” an exhibition in Leinster House launched by former senator Tras Honan,, the current Cathaoirleach, Senator Mark Daly said “Our Seanad 100 Commemoration aims to showcase the unique role that Seanad Eireann and so many members have played in helping shape our country. Ensuring that women are no longer a minority voice in Irish politics and in Irish life has been a major change doggedly pursued by members of the Seanad”.
As I placed each of these portraits on the photoshop grid I remembered many of these individual women and their significance in my lifetime . I am so proud of their achievement. I am so delighted to see this artwork on the wall of Leinster house for the people who work here and the many visitors young and old who will see a changing landscape on the walls of their major home of Democracy, the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. This work was completed in November 2022.