Women on Walls at RCSI, in partnership with Accenture, is a campaign that seeks to make women leaders visible through a series of commissioned portraits that will create a lasting cultural legacy for Ireland.
In March 2018, artists were invited to submit a proposal to Business to Arts, project managers of the initiative. A selection committee identified six artists that were commissioned. The group of artists have worked with RCSI Heritage Collections team to research their subjects and complete the portraits. These portraits will recognise the pioneering achievements of eight extraordinary women and enhance the visibility of historical female leaders in healthcare. They now hang in the Board Room of RCSI on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin’s city centre.
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| RCSI Board Room with 8 new portraits of female leaders in healthcare on permanent display |
The launch of the portraits was a very exciting day for RCSI as it was a culmination of almost 18 months project work and we at Heritage Collections had the great pleasure of being part of it! This blog highlights our journey collaborating with colleagues on this project.
Led by our colleagues in RCSI's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion unit, the project required many strands of expertise. One of these was to provide a detailed historical overview of women affiliated to RCSI either through their educational life and/or their professional career. The Heritage Collections team took a lead on this supplying the project with a long-list of possible candidates. The main criteria given was that the chosen women should have a link to RCSI. Some names were obvious choices, others a little harder. But in the end we were able to provide the project with a preliminary list of 'RCSI Women' who had all achieved remarkable accomplishments in the world of healthcare and medicine.
For the purpose of the Women on Walls project, the long list had to be cut down to eight women (not an easy task) and after much consideration, deliberation and formal consultation with the RCSI Senior Management Team and President, the final 8 subjects were chosen.
In early 2018, RCSI announced an Open Call to Artists to commission this series. More than 55 submissions were submitted and carefully considered by a selection committee in order to identify the eight successful proposals by the chosen 6 artists (2 artists undertook 2 portraits).
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| Artists Benita Stoney, Mick O'Dea, Molly Judd, Catherine Creaney, Enda Griffin. (Missing from picture William Nathans) |
Initially, the Heritage Collections team were able to provide the artists with a short biography and at least one image of their chosen subjects to start off with. What followed was a close working relationship with each of the artists in order to help the artists develop their concept fully. As a team we started to uncover stories, pictures and contexts for the lives of the chosen women and share these with the artists. Archives were scoured, photographs were discovered and hidden lives were dug up which led to deeper understandings of the lives these extraordinary women led at both a professional and personal level.
As part of this process, it was important for us to also include family members of our portrait subjects to help the artists discover different aspects of their character which would be difficult to find on paper, such as their personalities, their sartorial choices, and even what jewellery they would wear etc. Some family connections were a little harder to find than others, but using our investigative and research skills we were able to locate at least one family member for each subject who were key to bringing the 8 women to life on canvas.
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| Mick O'Dea in his studio, Henrietta St, Dublin |
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| William Nathans in his studio, Harcourt St, Dublin |
A really exciting stage of the project was halfway through the commission when we were able to visit each of the artists studios to see their progress with the portraits. We travelled the length and breadth of the country to do so and it was so worth it! The 8 women that had started off simply as names on a list were starting to come alive before our very eyes! The artists presented the work carried out so far, their idea and inspiration for their overall concept and the connection they were starting to feel towards their subjects. It was a real privilege to have been able to be in their work space and for them to share this thought process with us.
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| Benita Stoney in her studio, Clew Bay, county Mayo. |
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| Molly Judd in her studio, Killucan, Co Westmeath. |
The final 8 portraits were officially unveiled by Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD and RCSI President Mr Kenneth Mealy at a very special and moving event. The project had finally come to a conclusion and it was incredible to be able to see the 8 women standing tall in RCSI's historic Board Room. Our first thought upon seeing them was they truly belonged there. Their careful curation and framing gave them the importance and gravity they deserve.
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| Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD and RCSI President Mr Kenneth Mealy launching the new portraits. Also included Mr Cathal Kelly (CEO RCSI), Andrew Hetherington (CEO Business to Arts), Dr Avril Hutch (Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit, RCSI), Prof Hannah McGee (Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), Michelle Cullen & Alastair Blair (Accenture). |
“The artists commissioned, have created a powerful series of work highlighting the importance of gender equality. The Women on Walls campaign is a strong example of how art helps to communicate an important message. These eight extraordinary women whose portraits will hang on the walls of RCSI for years to come, represent the exceptional achievements of RCSI graduates and Fellows past, present and future. We salute the achievements of the six artists.”
A spoken word piece, titled 'This is Why we Commemorate' performed by Theatre Company Super Paua stirred everybody's emotions and highlighted the immensity of these 8 women's work and dedication. There was a lovely chorus line included in the performance which summed up the work done in Heritage Collections nicely:
You know,
I met eight women in an archive.
So did I.
Their achievements stacked in
Documents, photo albums, files.
Harder workers you never would have met.
Often photographed in an ocean full of men.
If that would bother others, it never seemed to bother them,
I imagine it may have felt, somewhat isolating, in those crowds
Always a minority
But they thrived.
Lived through and survived
Some much tougher times
Than we know of today.
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| RCSI Library's Heritage Collections team: Susan Leyden, Mary O'Doherty, Ronan Kelly |
You can read more about Women on Walls at RCSI in partnership with Accenture and find out more about scheduled tour times by visiting accenture.com/womenonwalls and women.rcsi.com
A new Women on Walls podcast series was announced during the unveiling. The eight-part series celebrates the lives of these eight Irish women who forged careers in healthcare during a time in Ireland when women were expected to stay at home. Women on Walls is now available for download from Apple, Google and Spotify podcasts. A new episode will be published fortnightly here http://women.rcsi.com/podcasts/
