Do you have any influences in your work?
Sylvia Plath and Sinead Morrissey would be the two poets which come to my mind. There are others, Christina Rosetti was someone who inspired me. She wrote the Goblin Market. I tend to veer towards dark things.
What about themes?
I tend to plunder my childhood, my upbringing in my work, growing up on a farm in the Sperrins Mountains. I also look at the relationship I had with my father. I look into the question of women, especially the discrepancies between the lives of women and the lives of men. I look closely at the different treatment for girls compared to boys. I also look into the mystical, mythical, women tied to the earth. I also look at the lives of women in Celtic legends.
Where to now?
I have a project which I want to work on called “The Irish Millie” which is a story about a woman called Millie who was born in 1900. It follows the period of The Titanic and then World War 1 and World War 2, but the key theme is the demise of the linen industry.
I have completed 5 chapters of that story so far which is about the relationship between Millie who is a part time worker at a Linen Mill, and Amelia who is the sister of a mill owner and it looks at the question of Women’s Rights. Amelia is very much involved in the Suffragette movement and it is Millie’s connection to Amelia which begins her process of politicisation
So, I am looking at the rise of the Suffragettes and the question of suffrage. And I have designed the characters in ceramics and so this project connects my work in ceramics with my work in writing.
If you want to look at the work of Annemarie Mullan can go to the link below
www.instagram.com/hand2maden/
