Absinthe & Absence -Jackie Hudson Lalor

Hamilton Gallery / Cairde Visual Award Winner 2023

March 8th - April 5th 2025

“Absinthe & Absence is an expansive survey of work, including painting, print and sculpture. This work ruptures from the core of Irsh feminism. Utilising mythology and biography, it evades processes of time, generating a concentrated capsule for contemplation. Following the thread of absinthe green woven throughout, the work highlights numbed pain created by an absence of representation. It makes visible that which we typically seek to hide from; the effects of trauma, the ignored pain of women, and the prejudice against ageing. This work is dedicated to the multiplicity of Irish women, their complexities, their triumphs and their beauty.” - Kat Lalor

About Jackie Hudson Lalor

Born in Dublin, Jackie Hudson Lalor is a full time visual artist, working across a range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture and fine art printmaking. She has taken part in many exhibitions all over Ireland, Northern Ireland and New York including the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, the Crawford Gallery, Cork, the RHA Gallery, Dublin and the Ulster Museum, Belfast with the RUA, at their annual group exhibitions.

With a special interest in portraiture, Hudson Lalor was shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Prize in 2020 at the National Gallery, Ireland with her painting 'After the Storm' and also in 2020 she was commissioned to paint a large scale portrait of mathematical genius, Katherine G. Johnson, for the Women on Walls initiative at DCU, with Accenture and Business to Arts.

Hudson Lalor trained and worked in the flexographic print industry as a graphic artist and went on to manage the print department in Smurfit Display, Dublin, producing in a team, point of sale units for all the major Irish and International companies. Hudson Lalor has also freelanced in illustration, most notably working with Microsoft and UNESCO, creating illustrations for a literacy program in developing countries.

'Absinthe & Absence' comes to Sligo following the Hamilton Gallery | Cairde Visual 2022 award to Jackie Hudson Lalor. The exhibition opened at Droichead Arts Centre in November 2024. Droichead has been a consistent support to Hudson Lalor's practice, awarding her a bursary to paint a large scale portrait of The Countess Constance Markievicz and the opportunity to collaborate on The Lighthouse Project' with curator Dani Gill, which is a legacy project. Following exhibition at Hamilton Gallery, Absinthe and Absence will be shown at Strule Arts Centre, Omagh, Co. Tyrone from 5th of September - 27th of September 2025.