Enchanting & Sorrow
Emily Waszac
Opens on the 3rd of May and runs until the 14th of June
Sculptural Installations and Soundscapes with an accompanying keening and grief workshop by Aoife Hammond.
Enchanting & Sorrow by Emily Waszac explores widowhood, grief, and climate loss through a culturally layered narrative centred around the cormorant—an ecological indicator and symbolically potent figure in both Irish and Japanese folklore. Waszac's installations, soundscapes, and textiles create a contemplative, liminal space for mourning and reflection. The exhibition thoughtfully embodies the overarching theme of interwoven ecologies by highlighting intimate connections between personal experience, cultural heritage, and global environmental challenges.
This multi-sensorial exhibition features sculptural installations, Japanese textile processes, moving image, and soundscapes. This evocative exhibition creates a liminal cormorant lair—a contemplative space suspended between our world and the otherworld, dedicated to expressions of grief and mourning.
Following her extensive exploration of grief and ritual, Emily Waszac now delves deeply into the experience of widowhood, anchored by the symbolic figure of the cormorant. Known locally in Donegal as cailleach dhubh (black hag), the cormorant embodies themes of magic, fear, and isolation, reflecting Waszac's personal identity as a widow. Her solitary coastal walks along the shores of North West Ireland forge a profound communion with these birds, bridging her dual Irish-Japanese heritage, in which the cormorant also occupies a significant cultural role.
The cormorant, an ecological indicator species affected by climate change, guides Waszac's inquiry into climate grief, prompting reflection on environmental degradation as cormorants migrate inland due to declining ocean health. Through documentation via photography, video, and sketching, combined with dialogical and archival methods exploring folklore, natural history, and linguistic insights, Waszac weaves together narratives of ecological and personal mourning.
The resulting installation interlaces weavings, masks, figurative objects, and assemblages to summon Japanese kami (spirits) and evoke powerful connections between widowhood and ecological loss. Accompanying the exhibition, musician and sound artist Aoife Hammond will facilitate a community workshop focused on the ancient practice of keening, exploring grief through voice and sound. This workshop enhances the communal and reflective dimensions of the exhibition, creating a supportive environment for collective mourning and healing.
Enchanting & Sorrow invites visitors into an intimate space to contemplate loss, identity, and ecological interconnectedness, revealing deep emotional resonance through cultural symbolism and artistic expression.
Emily Waszac Biography
Emily Waszak is a Donegal-based visual artist of Japanese descent working in sculpture and textiles. Her work has been exhibited in Ireland and internationally and is concerned with ritual and ruin. Recent solo exhibitions include: The Land and Others Including the Dead, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin; Grief Weaving, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny; Shadow and Fold, Arts Itoya, Japan; To Guide Shadows, Old Church Grangegorman, Dublin. Waszak’s work was also exhibited in IMMA as part of the RDS Visual Arts Awards exhibition. Waszak is the recipient of the Arts Council's Visual Arts Bursary in 2020, 2022, 2023 and the Donegal County Council's Artist Bursary in 2022 and 2023. She was awarded the Artist in the Community Award in 2016 and 2021 from the Arts Council and Create. Waszak also received the Arts Council's Agility Award in 2021. She is a member of Praxis artist union.
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