Starting in early 2026 this project seeks to explore our everyday artefacts and to find the story attached to them.
As an archaeological illustrator I use a specific drawing language to bring to life the story of the artefact. With ancient artefacts the story is always an educated guess at who the owner might once have been. With this project we hope to discover the story of objects that mean something to us. The group are recording their stories and I am working on detailed drawings to see what else I can pull out of the object.
This project will run throughout 2026. We are creating a handmade book of these stories, a wooden book shrine (based on Early Christian book shrines at the National Museum), and a printed version of the book which will be given to the local library in Aughrim.
This book and shrine will become the Aughrim Men's Shed artefact to have for generations to come.

This project is funded by Wicklow County Council Artist and Community Collaboration Award 2026.
Wicklow County Arts Office
Wicklow County Council
The Arts Council, Ireland