Born in Cambridge, Rachel Parry has lived in Allihies for many years. After attending Goldsmiths College London her practice began with painting. In the 1980s, juggling homeschooling with studio work, her work was selected for EVA, ‘Cork Art Now’ (Crawford Gallery, Cork) and ‘Four Women at the Temple Bar‘ Dublin. She began making her intense, superbly crafted sculpture in the 1990s. Her solo exhibition in the Fenton Gallery (2009) was selected by Aidan Dunne as a visual art highlight of the year.
She is best known for her symbolic use of organic matter – Washed Up, was a hard-hitting comment on the migrant boats crisis in the Mediterranean shown in the RHA annual exhibition (2021). A figure lies in a raft made from the dried by-the-wind-sailor jellyfish washed up here in increasing numbers due to climate change.
Over the years she has worked as a coordinator for the Beara Arts Festival, with adults with disabilities, women’s groups and migrant artists. In 2021 she joined the Na Cailleacha Collective.
In ‘Na Cailleacha with Reference to Paula Rego’ at The Dock Carrick-on-Shannon, 2023 her work drew tremendous public attention and included performance for the first time.
We are delighted to show her work on the Cailleach for the Allihies Autumn School this year.