Orla O'Flanagan

Who

Ms Orla O'Flanagan

What

Community Artist

Where

Ireland

More about me

I have worked for many years in the non-profit sector in Ireland and South Africa, and am a practicing textile artist and facilitator.

I currently am exploring the combination of digital media with textiles in my personal and collaborative work (for an example please see the political quilt Blurred Boundaries
(2007) on www.mrci.ie/activities/opening_doors ).

I have an MSc in Equality Studies from University College Dublin,
with my thesis research on the relationship between textile art and
egalitarian social change from a feminist perspective. Through this research I became interested in using a craft/decorative art medium that is often understood as feminised in the West. I have worked with women's groups to use textiles subversively and educationally to tell their stories and to explore avenues of social change.

I am Hivos because

I came accross Hivos when I was researching a trip to Central Asia. I am inspired with how radical and egalitarian Hivos agenda is and I would like to see how things progress for the projects they fund.