navigating art & class
As a girl from Tallaght, stepping into the art world always felt a little alien to me. Surrounded by people with money and connections, I often felt like I was missing some hidden code, some secret manual that everyone else seemed to have. Interest in art has always been a signifier of class, and navigating that world means performing roles. If you come from a “lower” class, you learn to play a “higher” class. If you come from a “higher” class, you sometimes perform “lower.” I remember trying hummus for the first time. It was first year of art school, waiting outside a lecture hall. A classmate, whose dad was a writer and mother an artist, offered me some crackers and hummus. I had no idea what it was. I tasted it and I have to say, I loved it. I think of that moment now and realise just how much taste and knowledge can mark you as inside or outside a world. Years later, on my first (and so far, only) artist residency in New York* at Arts, Letters & Numbers, I noticed how these in...
