Projects
‘Sentimental Conflict’: Fascism in Ireland 1930s-1950s (2025)
This research-based artist practice project, ‘Sentimental Conflict’, examines Ireland’s relationship to European fascism and authoritarianism in the interwar period, challenging the persistent narrative of Irish political innocence. The project asks how nationalism, Catholic conservatism, and imperialist nostalgia shaped the ideological foundations of the Irish Free State, and how these forces were expressed through visual culture, public rhetoric, and material objects.Central to the work is an interrogation of nostalgia as an ideological tool: how sentimental imagery, rural idealisation, and appeals to cultural purity functioned to obscure violence, exclusion, and political alignment with authoritarian regimes. The project questions how Irish identity was constructed in relation to fascist Europe, and why this history remains under-acknowledged within national memory.
Developed through engagement with the collections of the National Photographic Archive, utilising the Eoin O’Duffy collection; the project is grounded in engagement with state and archival collections, including material from the National Photographic Archive, RTÉ Archives, and historical press sources. These institutions are approached not only as repositories of evidence, but as active sites where historical narratives are framed, softened, or omitted.
Irish history is situated comparatively alongside Italy and Spain, particularly through shared Catholic nationalism, paramilitary organisation, and ideological alignment during the 1930s. The project critically examines how museums and archives present—or fail to present—Ireland’s connections to fascist movements, the Blueshirts, and Irish participation in the Spanish Civil War.
By foregrounding archival images, postcards, propaganda objects, and commemorative artefacts, Sentimental Conflict positions itself in dialogue with institutional practices of display, questioning how difficult or politically uncomfortable histories are mediated for public consumption.
Irish history is situated comparatively alongside Italy and Spain, particularly through shared Catholic nationalism, paramilitary organisation, and ideological alignment during the 1930s. The project critically examines how museums and archives present—or fail to present—Ireland’s connections to fascist movements, the Blueshirts, and Irish participation in the Spanish Civil War.
By foregrounding archival images, postcards, propaganda objects, and commemorative artefacts, Sentimental Conflict positions itself in dialogue with institutional practices of display, questioning how difficult or politically uncomfortable histories are mediated for public consumption.
The project employs a historically grounded, interdisciplinary research methodology combining:
Archival research using photographic, broadcast, and press collections
Analysis of political speeches and state rhetoric, including Éamon de Valera’s 1943 ‘The Ireland That We Dreamed Of’ address
Critical engagement with theories of imperialist nostalgia, nationalism, and right-wing authoritarianism
Comparative study of Irish, Italian, and Spanish fascist iconography and political organisation
Object-based analysis of material artefacts, including commemorative boxes and relics associated with Irish volunteers in Spain
Contemporary digital fieldwork using Google Maps to trace former battle sites along the Jarama River
Visual sources such as John Hinde’s postcards are treated as ideological artefacts, revealing how tourism imagery and popular aesthetics contributed to a sanitised vision of Irish life. Film and literature, including Fellini’s Amarcord, are used to explore how memory, sentimentality, and hindsight shape historical understanding.
Archival research using photographic, broadcast, and press collections
Analysis of political speeches and state rhetoric, including Éamon de Valera’s 1943 ‘The Ireland That We Dreamed Of’ address
Critical engagement with theories of imperialist nostalgia, nationalism, and right-wing authoritarianism
Comparative study of Irish, Italian, and Spanish fascist iconography and political organisation
Object-based analysis of material artefacts, including commemorative boxes and relics associated with Irish volunteers in Spain
Contemporary digital fieldwork using Google Maps to trace former battle sites along the Jarama River
Visual sources such as John Hinde’s postcards are treated as ideological artefacts, revealing how tourism imagery and popular aesthetics contributed to a sanitised vision of Irish life. Film and literature, including Fellini’s Amarcord, are used to explore how memory, sentimentality, and hindsight shape historical understanding.
Sentimental Conflict culminates in a body of work that responds materially and visually to archival research, combining sculptural objects, constructed forms, and image-based work. These outcomes function as interpretive devices rather than illustrative reconstructions, foregrounding absence, fragmentation, and historical unease.
The project’s presentation strategy draws consciously on museum display formats—vitrines, relic containers, archival groupings—while resisting the neutrality typically associated with institutional presentation. By juxtaposing sentimental imagery with evidence of authoritarian practice, the work exposes the ideological foundations beneath Ireland’s self-image as politically exceptional or detached.
Rather than offering closure, Sentimental Conflict positions itself as a critical intervention into national memory, inviting viewers to reconsider how Irish history is framed, remembered, and displayed within public institutions.
The project’s presentation strategy draws consciously on museum display formats—vitrines, relic containers, archival groupings—while resisting the neutrality typically associated with institutional presentation. By juxtaposing sentimental imagery with evidence of authoritarian practice, the work exposes the ideological foundations beneath Ireland’s self-image as politically exceptional or detached.
Rather than offering closure, Sentimental Conflict positions itself as a critical intervention into national memory, inviting viewers to reconsider how Irish history is framed, remembered, and displayed within public institutions.
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