“Underpinning much of the work on display is purposeful and meaningful engagement with the materiality of glass. Its transparency, ductility and fragility, combined with its seemingly contradictory qualities of strength, solidity and hardness, form a context for experimentation and a rich seam of exploration for many of the makers represented. The Northern Ireland-based artist, Helen Hancock, is one such maker. She explores what happens when glass is infused with breastmilk, umbilical cords, milk teeth or ashes, telling us that milk teeth create an extraordinary bloom of gold colour when saturated into glass, while breast-milk creates a web-like pattern of white threads, which is ‘unique each time’ (IGB Catalogue, 2023, p58). Drawing on her other role as a breastfeeding counsellor, her glass practice is focused on women’s experiences, and their stories of trauma in particular. Using these intensely resonant glass materials, Hancock makes very personal pieces, informed by the private, healing dialogue between her and the women she has worked with.”
The Irish Glass Biennale 2023 exhibition is open to the public from 28 April until 20 August 2023 at the Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle, Ireland. Free Admission. Find out more via the website.
Dr Anna Moran
