New ‘Silent Parlours’ art exhibition opens in Mayo at Linenhall Gallery

Silent Parlours, the third collaborative presentation by artists Eleanor McCaughey and Lucy Sheridan, runs from Friday, January 23 to Saturday, February 28, 2026 at Linenhall Gallery in Castlebar.

The exhibition features visceral, hand-made sculptural and textile works shaped by the artists’ shared experiences of infertility, miscarriage, endometriosis and premature ovarian failure.

The work emerged from what the artists describe as a deep compulsion to create through grief, loss and the memory of imagined futures.

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Both McCaughey and Sheridan are interested in the history and politics surrounding female identity and the body. For this exhibition, they draw on representations of women in late 18th-century literature, re-examining them through the lens of contemporary Irish society and the expectations placed on girls and women today.

At the heart of Silent Parlours is the association between femininity and the domestic space.

The artists explore how inherited objects such as tea sets, vases, candlesticks, cupboards, textiles and religious or devotional items, act as carriers of cultural memory and gendered expectation, often passed from grandmother to mother to daughter. These objects are presented both as symbols of women’s historical positioning within the home and as functional items charged with emotional meaning.

As part of her installation, Lucy Sheridan has commissioned fellow artist Emma Sheridan to create a textile work that forms the setting for her ceramic pieces, highlighting intergenerational support and the exchange of domestic objects within families.

Eleanor McCaughey’s installation responds to the growing displacement of artists from studio spaces across Ireland. Her work addresses the value placed on artistic labour and the importance of studios as spaces for experimentation, reflection and embodied making.

Both artists have exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally and are recipients of multiple national arts awards and residencies.

Silent Parlours continues at the Linenhall Gallery, Castlebar, until Saturday, February 28. Admission details and opening times are available through the gallery.

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