Cork artist Oonagh Hurley: 'These women challenged the status quo of gender inequality'

Oonagh Hurley's exhibition at Cork County Library features portraits of great women from Ireland and beyond 
Cork artist Oonagh Hurley: 'These women challenged the status quo of gender inequality'

Oonagh Hurley at her Women Unremembered exhibition in County Cork Library. 

A picture of one remarkable woman led artist Oonagh Hurley to another and a voyage of discovery that would inspire her to embark on a series of portraits reclaiming the lives of women hidden in the shadows of history.

“I was looking up stuff about B52 bombers because there was a story about a plane that had landed near Clonakilty during the war," says Hurley. "I went down a rabbit hole and found a beautiful image of Amelia Earhart, and then another of the aviator, Lilian Bland, who lived near Belfast. She wasn’t allowed to join the local flying club because she was a woman so she designed, built and flew her own plane. Amelia Earhart was only about 12 years of age at that stage.”

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