'It takes years to recover from homelessness': Elayne Harrington on getting her art career on track

Elayne Adamczyk Harrington has had no shortage of hard times living on the streets, but a residency at a new studio is the latest step in an art practice that's proud to put working-class issues at its core

Elayne Adamczyk Harrington as part of her MissElayneous 2020 project. Picture: Jacek Snochoswki

"How many folks who read the Irish Arts Review are looking for a bed through the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive?" asks sculptor and hip hop/poetry performer, Elayne Adamczyk Harrington. She is one of four artists who have  just been awarded residencies at the Dean Arts Studio on Dublin's Harcourt Street in a partnership with IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) and The Dean Hotel.

Thirty-three year old Harrington, who is married to a Polish man, was homeless while in sixth year at school, living in a women's transitional house. Two years after that, she lived in a YMCA premises.