“Take a Seat”
Ash, blackthorn, hazel and deal
Shown here in Yeats’ Society Sligo, November 2023
“Take a seat” is a common and seemingly simple invitation. However, as a person with hidden disabilities, the act of sitting and choice of seating available can present unseen difficulties.
This artwork is designed to represent some of the thinking involved in selecting a seat when your body does not conform to that of the chair’s intended user.
The design of the chair was inspired by the hedge chair. Hedge chairs were made by Irish hedge carpenters in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They made affordable furniture in a sustainable way, choosing pieces of wood that naturally matched the shape they wished to use.
The woods used hold significance in Irish folklore. Blackthorn in particular holds connotations of both harm and protection.