Amna Walayat: 'You hear about fallen women, you never hear about a fallen man'

The Cork-based artist sees links between the way women have been treated in Ireland and in her native Pakistan 

Cork-based artist Amna Walayat and a detail from one of her pieces.

Over the past few years, Amna Walayat has quietly emerged as one of the busiest people on the arts scene in Cork. As founder of the Pakistan Ireland Arts Exchange, she is working with the Embassy of Pakistan to promote South Asian art in Ireland, and as creative producer in residence with Cork County Council, she has organised the Basant/Kite Flying Festival in Carrigaline, to welcome the arrival of spring.

Walayat’s own work is also garnering much attention. She is currently showing – along with Mary Moynihan and Hina Khan – in the Eternal Rebels exhibition at the Pumphouse in Dublin Port as part of the Dublin Arts & Human Rights Festival 2023. Earlier this year, the EVA International Biennial in Limerick commissioned a new body of paintings, and Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh will host a solo exhibition of her work in November.