Power to the People - 2024

100% of the sale of this work will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Power to the People was created as part of Peace Bowls, an exhibition organised by the Glass Society of Ireland in response to the Irish government gifting a bowl of shamrock to the American president on St. Patrick’s Day, despite clear requests from Irish society, and from glass makers across the country, that this not be done in our name. Peace Bowls was our collective act of refusal and re-statement: a way to speak for ourselves, and to assert peace, solidarity, and responsibility through making.

For this bowl, I put a call out to Pals for Palestine, asking them to share images from the protests, marches, and actions they had taken part in over the past year. These images were collated and transformed into ceramic decals, forming a kaleidoscopic collage across the surface of the bowl. Children, animals, singing, chanting, dancing, people coming together. On the opposing side, I painted a keffiyeh pattern as a clear symbol of solidarity.

The chant Power to the People, my favourite, and one that feels endlessly relevant, is written around the rim. The base of the bowl has been deliberately left unground, allowing it to rock and wobble. This movement is intentional: a physical expression of collective power. Like marching, like voices raised together, it creates vibration, momentum, and ripple effects that move far beyond the object itself.