Clodagh Finn: Women on Walls — the art of challenging the status quo

An event happened on Thursday at UCC that gives us real cause for celebration, writes Clodagh Finn

'Women of the South' created by Cork artist Julianne Guinee honouring eight Munster women: Brigid Carmody, Mary Crilly, Dr Myra Cullinane, Dr Evelyn Grant, Dr Naomi Masheti, Dr Patricia Sheahan, Caitríona Twomey, and Dola Twomey.

Transformation is possible. Those words came to mind again and again as the portraits of 11 pioneering women were unveiled at the Aula Maxima at UCC on Thursday as part of Accenture’s ever-inspiring Women on Walls initiative.

I didn’t expect to be as moved as I was, but it was quite something to witness a complete visual reassembling of the old order in a great hall so deeply steeped (and stuck) in tradition. It might have taken 180 years, but the wall-to-wall portraiture of men is no more.

It has been entirely reconfigured in a way that does several important things. It makes history. It introduces gender balance. And, perhaps most striking of all, it uses the formal portrait — that potent signifier of what we value — to honour a new set of principles.

The women, picked by the public in 2024, were chosen for their work in making the world a better and more equal place.

The unveiling of the Women on Walls portraits at UCC. Picture: Shane O'Neill

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That is not to say that the former presidents, mathematicians, philosophers and scientists featured on the Aula Max’s wall and in its historic stained-glass windows did not do much good, but the new fine-art portraits unveiled on Thanksgiving broaden the scope in previously unimaginable ways.

UCC President John O’Halloran commented on the timing because, as he said, this project “is a kind of thanksgiving to 11 remarkable women, all deeply connected to Munster, who broke barriers, challenged convention and redefined what leadership looks like”.

That redefinition is evident in the name of the portrait now at the centre of what I once heard described as the ‘dude wall’. It’s called Women of the South and artist Julianne Guinee explains her own connection to Seán Keating’s Men of the South, a painting she visited often when she used to slip into the calm of the Crawford Gallery in Cork with her children to find a quiet place to breastfeed.

'Women of the South' at UCC. Picture: Shane O'Neill

She was telling her daughter about the family connection to the painting — her great-grandfather earned a war medal for his role in the War of Independence — when the four-year-old piped up: “Mummy, where are all the girls?”

Well, here they are at last in a group portrait that was purposely placed centre-stage because, as was repeated throughout a dignified and affecting unveiling ceremony, Women on Walls is not only an artistic initiative, but a statement that visibility matters. Equality matters. Telling the whole story matters.

Future generations of students will now see a story that “is fuller, richer and truer to the community that UCC serves,” says Avril Hutch, UCC’s director of equality, diversity and inclusion.

A portrait of sports journalist, disability activist and motivational speaker, Joanne O’Riordan (created by artist Vera Klute) at the Women on Walls unveiling. Picture: Shane O'Neill

That sends a ripple of goosebumps through this correspondent because as a UCC graduate I remember feeling the male gaze in the long-ago when nobody expected to see women represented in the pageantry of conferring day.

It was remarked on, of course, but like so many other female graduates I never truly thought it would change. We might call that internalised misogyny now but, at the time, it was just the way it was, an immutable fact of life.

Out in the real world, though, so many women were pressing for change, through their advocacy, community service, leadership and constant chipping away at the barriers to equality.

I never thought I’d see the day when those changemakers would transform places once so resistant to it. Since the Women on Walls campaign began in 2016, Accenture has commissioned some 36 portraits of women that hang at the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, DCU and now UCC.

Julianne Guinee’s portrait brings an overdue spotlight on the incredible work done by eight Munster women: Traveller rights campaigner Brigid Carmody; Cork Sexual Violence Centre founder Mary Crilly; barrister, doctor and coroner Dr Myra Cullinane; musician Dr Evelyn Grant; Cork Migrant Centre director Dr Naomi Masheti; palliative care consultant Dr Patricia Sheahan; Cork Penny Dinners director Caitriona Twomey; and sexual violence therapist/activist Dola Twomey.

The group portrait honouring eight Munster women was unveiled at University College Cork and commissioned as part of Accenture’s Women on Walls. Picture: Shane O'Neill, Coalesce.

Gerry Davis captured something of the character of ground-breaking novelist Edna O’Brien, the subject of his portrait, when he said: “I have deep admiration for her fearless approach to storytelling and the way she carved out her own space in the world, often against the odds.”

Artist Vanessa Jones paid tribute to the worldwide impact of her subject, Honora ‘Nano’ Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Sisters who brought education to millions of girls. “A portrait is unfolded in your life enfolded,” she said, quoting a Catholic French philosopher on how it’s possible to reflect the essence of a person in a painting.

Artist Vera Klute said of her subject, journalist, disability activist and law student, Joanne O’Riordan: “I think her personality and energy are captivating and it is inspiring to consider her ambition and achievements, especially in light of her disability.”

It is impossible to sum up in this short space all these women have achieved but longer biographies, written by Marjorie Brennan of this parish, will be released soon.

What is worth noting, though, is that what happened on Thursday at UCC gives us real cause for celebration. It is rare to see women on walls and rarer still to see living women honoured in such a powerful way.

A portrait of novelist, memoirist, playwright and poet Edna O’Brien (1930–2024) that was created by Limerick-based artist Gerry Davis for Accenture’s Women on Walls at UCC exhibition. The commissioned portraits were created by Irish-based artists Gerry Davis, Vanessa Jones, Vera Klute, and Julianne Guinee, following an open call for artists led by Business to Arts. Picture: Shane O'Neill, Coalesce

This project, three years in the making, brought together many partners who pushed out the boundaries to make it happen. All of them — down to the man who mopped the floor in the Aula Maxima the night before the portraits were installed — were thanked at the unveiling on Thursday.

Too many to mention here, but the commitment of UCC and Accenture in bringing this project to fruition at a time when the words ‘equality’, 'diversity' and ‘inclusion’ are being quietly deleted in company mission statements around the world is an important and impressive achievement.

Hilary O’Meara, Accenture’s country managing director for Ireland, said Women on Walls was first conceived to put a spotlight on incredible women who might otherwise have gone unseen or unrecognised.

“The campaign had a simple tagline, 'You cannot be what you cannot see',” she said, but as her colleague Michelle Cullen, managing director and inclusion and diversity lead, said, 36 portraits of women is great but it is not enough, by a long shot.

She issued a Christmas challenge. “When you’re out and about over the holiday season, take a moment to look at the walls in the halls that you visit, at your own alma mater or maybe you’ll be in clubs and societies. Look at the walls and notice our women missing from the portraits,” she said.

Then, she said, think about commissioning a painting.

(Left to right) Portraits of sports journalist, disability activist and motivational speaker, Joanne O’Riordan (created by artist Vera Klute) and founder of the Presentation Sisters, Honora “Nano” Nagle (1718–1784) portrayed by artist Vanessa Jones. Accenture’s Women on Walls is a campaign that seeks to make women leaders visible through a series of commissioned portraits that will create a lasting cultural legacy for Ireland. Picture: Shane O'Neill, Coalesce

Not everyone will have the wherewithal to fund such a commission but it might prompt some of us to think about fundraising to do so or, at the very least, force us into a different way of looking. It is also true to say that if you can’t see the gender imbalance, you can’t change it.

At least now, there is a growing recognition that something is terribly wrong when half of human endeavour is missing, or so poorly represented on our walls.

That changed on Thursday at UCC in a way that I never thought possible. It’s rare to attend an event and feel that you are witnessing real change. And not just that, the kind of change that will have an impact on future generations.

There will never be another female UCC graduate who will look up at the wall and feel excluded from it because of her gender. That is a true cause for celebration on Thanksgiving day.