Turning Point (2011)

This work marks the final stage of a project begun in 2008 through collaboration with Clare Women’s Network and supported by the CREATE Artist in the Community Scheme. Using the myth of Demeter and Persephone as a generative storytelling device, the project explored the potential of the archetypal mother-daughter relationship central to this story, as a metaphor for psychological transformation. The decision to use this visual poetic device was inspired by responses gathered during the initial research stage of the project. Testimonies of women who had survived domestic abuse and gender based violence were gathered, and a commonality in many was identified as the transformative moment when the desire of a mother to protect her daughter, very often marked the turning point to end a destructive cycle of entrapment. The psychological underpinnings of this myth, also provided an armature to metaphorically approach themes of violence, loss, abuse and trauma in a less direct and raw manner, while also offering hope of regeneration, renewal and recovery. Here the importance of a matrilineal bond and the link to a real or symbolic mother, was important in creatively tracing a route out of the darkness. Once the root of the Eleusinian Mysteries, this ancient story provides important insights into the psychology of healing and recovery, essential in returning to the upper world from even the darkest moments. The myth tells a story of travelling to Hell and back, of surviving a devastating encounter. For the photographic series here key moments in the story were visualised by Kerry Bray and her daughter Alla.

The works was first shown at the RHA Ashford Gallery (2011), then at The Watergate Theatre Kilkenny, Glor Ennis and Limerick Printmakers (2012) and the Festival of Feminisms, Ennis (2017).