Emily Waszak: Ancestors, Lovers, Kin

Emily Waszak’s Ancestors, Lovers, Kin assemblage of works is informed by rituals of her Japanese cultural heritage, experiences of grief and loss, and the landscape of her home in rural Donegal, Ireland. With a background in industrial weaving, Waszak produces woven works using both ancient and contemporary weaving techniques to combine discarded industrial waste textiles and fragments of fabric with deep personal significance. Other found and natural materials are used, such as clay ceramic vessels, ceremonial objects like animal bones, and her late husband’s medical equipment.

Emily Waszak has been selected through an innovative open call to support an Irish artist in presenting their debut international solo exhibition — an initiative by Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, and Culture Ireland, developed in collaboration with Southwark Park Galleries.

This exhibition is generously supported by Culture Ireland, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Arts Council England.

Artist Bio

Emily Waszak (b. North Carolina, USA; based in Donegal, Ireland) has exhibited in Ireland and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘The Land and Others Including the Dead’, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin (2024); ‘Grief Weaving’, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny (2023); ‘Shadow and Fold’, Arts Itoya, Japan (2023); ‘To Guide Shadows’, Old Church Grangegorman, Dublin (2023). Her work was also exhibited in IMMA as part of the RDS Visual Arts Awards exhibition (2023–24) and ‘Thresholds to the Unseen’ at Solstice Arts, Navan, Ireland (2024).