Menopause for thought

From 2 October, ‘The Slow Moon Climbs’ by Éadaoin Glynn will be open to the public at Backwater Artists Group on Wandesford Quay, Cork city. The exhibition considers midlife not as an ending or diminishment, but as a threshold: a period of instability and profound change from which new possibilities can emerge.

Drawing on her own experience, Glynn reflects on her lack of knowledge when it came to certain aspects of menopause. She said: “I was struck by how little I knew about the medication itself, about the physical reality of the patches. How small they were, how they left marks on my skin. As a painter, I wanted to document this.

“When I shared this work on Instagram, the response was overwhelming. Women wrote comments and sent messages. Artists sent images of work they had made about their own experiences. I understood then that painting was a way to visually share these often invisible experiences.”

Glynn expanded this conversation through an anonymous survey asking women to describe perimenopause and menopause through images and phrases. Their responses moved between darkness and possibility: drowning, floating, adrift; pain, anxiety, grief, and rage; metamorphosis, rebirth and freedom, she says. These accounts became part of the visual language of ‘The Slow Moon Climbs’.

‘The Slow Moon Climbs’ is accompanied by a publication featuring contributions by Glynn and curator Kim Crowley, alongside a responsive text by Irish writer and critic, Cristín Leach. As part of the exhibition programme, Glynn will join curator Kim Crowley for an in-person conversation exploring the research and processes behind ‘The Slow Moon Climbs’, on 17 October at 1pm. Booking is free but essential via the Backwater Artists Group website.