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Helena Walsh


Current Work: Occupied Bodies

 

  Speaking of IMELDA, Knickers for Choice campaign at the March for Choice, Dublin, 2014 
       
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Speaking of IMELDA

Helena Walsh is a founder member of Speaking of IMELDA, a direct-action feminist performance group based in London that campaign to enable access to free, safe, legal and local abortion services across the island of Ireland. Between the group’s foundation in 2013 and the successful referendum to repeal the 8th amendment in the Republic of Ireland on 25th May 2018 that enabled the government to legislate for access to abortion, Helena Walsh played a key role in sustaining the collective collaborations of Speaking of IMELDA. Over her five years involvement with the group Helena contributed to the development of the group’s highly publicized direct-action performances, media campaigns, writings and public presentations.

For further information and to view the groups work please visit Speaking of IMELDA’s website:

www.speakingofimelda.org

Between 2013 and 2018 – Helena Walsh contributed to and participated in the following Speaking of IMELDA projects:


Actions:

Speaking of IMELDA: Producer - On Referendum Road - Speaking of IMELDA's road trip during the 2018 referendum campaign in the Republic of Ireland (April to May 2018)

Speaking of IMELDA: Solidarity with Sister Supporter at gathering outside Ealing Town Hall Council Meeting in which a motion to prevent harassment of those visiting Mattock Lane Clinic was successfully passed (10th October 2017)

Speaking of IMELDA: This is Not Wonderland’ at March for Choice Dublin 2017 and solidarity demo outside the Irish Embassy, London (30th September 2017)

Speaking of IMELDA: We will not be DUP-ed: demo outside Downing Street London (22nd June 2017)

Speaking of IMELDA: Opening (unofficially) of St. Patriarch’s Day parade 2017 with Pro-choice Poem  (19th March 2017)

Speaking of IMELDA: Appearance as the ‘Risen Rebels’ at the March for Choice Dublin 2016 (24th September 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: Coordinated ‘Knicker-Bombing’ of Public Sites (25th June 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: Not Designed for Comfort (9th April 2017)

Speaking of IMELDA: Pro-choice Sheros at Rally for Choice, Belfast organised (2nd July 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: Game of Shame (23rd May 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: Neither Use nor Ornament Passport Action (7th April 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: St. Patrick’s Day dressed as 1916 women 

Speaking of IMELDA:The Renunciation, Kings Cross / St. Pancras (St. Bridget’s Day 2016)

Speaking of IMELDA: Homecoming, Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre in collaboration with the Choicemas Carol Singers (20th December 2015)

Speaking of IMELDA: March For Choice Dublin (September 2015) – Speech Dressed as Bishops

Speaking of IMELDA: The Rogue Rose of Tralee, Action in Tralee, Kerry, (15th August 2015)

Speaking of IMELDA: She is not a Criminal – Irish Embassy London (9th June 2015)

Speaking of IMELDA: Pro-choice Proclamation at GPO, Dublin (Easter Monday, April 2015)

Speaking of IMELDA: WOW Festival, political pageant for Northern Ireland - 8th March 2015 (International Women’s Day) 

Speaking of IMELDA: Halting St. Patrick -St. Patricks Day London 2015 (15th March 2015)

Speaking of IMELDA: Homecoming– ‘A Sup of Choice for Christmas’ on the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and outside The Dail, Dublin (20th December 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: Photo call with Pantibliss (13th October 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: Knicker-bombing of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, London (3rd October 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: The Quiet Woman – campaign video for Knickers for Choice Campaign (September 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: March for Choice, Dublin 2014  -  with knickers for choice (September 2014):

Speaking of IMELDA: Silenced Screams – Demo Outside the Irish Embassy, London (20th August 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: Repeating Histories

Speaking of IMELDA: Intervention of Minister for Health, Jermey Hunt’s ‘advice surgery’, Sainsbury’s supermarket, Farnham (May 24th 2014)

 Speaking of IMELDA: Interventions during State Visit of Irish President Michael D. Higgins in London (8th and 10th April 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: Action at St. Patrick’s Day Parade London (16th 2014)

Speaking of IMELDA: International Women’s Day - Interruption of the Dissonant Voices Conference at Camden Irish Centre London (March 8th 2014)


Publications

Co-authored with Speaking of IMELDA, Homing in on the States we are In: Speaking of IMELDA . in: McAuliffe, M., Pine, E. and Haughton, M. (ed.) Legacies of the Magdalen Laundries: Commemoration, Gender and Systems of Abuse Manchester University Press (forthcoming)

Co-authored with members of the Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A., ‘A Radical Feminist Diaspora: Speaking of IMELDA, Reproductive Justice and Ireland’ in The Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics edited by Ruth Kinna and Uri Gordon (2019)

Speaking of IMELDA, ‘On the Road to the Referendum,’ Red Pepper Magazine, 24 May (2018) https://www.redpepper.org.uk/on-the-road-to-the-referendum/

Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A., ‘When Enda Met Imelda’ Cult Magazine, Issue 08, p.40 (2017)

Speaking of IMELDA. -  ‘I.M.E.L.D.A.’, Prova 3: Royal College of Art Humanities Research Forum Journal, ed. by Chantal Faust (chief ed.) and Kevin Biderman, Miranda Chow, Luci Eldridge and Nina Trivedi, (2016).   

Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A., ‘Dirty Work Still to be Done: Retrieving and Activating Feminist Acts of Resistance,’ Contemporary Theatre Review, (2015) http://www.contemporarytheatrereview.org/2015/margaretta-darcy/


Interviews

Very Loose Women, Resonance FM, Radio Interview (22 February 2017) - Podcast available at: https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/very-loose-women-22nd-february-2017/

The Flaneur Blog: ‘Time to Speak of I.M.E.L.D.A.: An interview on Live Art, Feminism and Activism.’ Interview with Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A. by Alessandra Cianetti: http://flaneur.me.uk/05/time-to-speak-of-i-m-e-l-d-a-an-interview-on-live-art-feminism-and-activism/


Presentations

Presentation at book launch of Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments at London School of Economics (17th October 2017)

Panel Presentation at FiLiA 2017 on the panel ‘Abortion Act – 50 Years’ at the Institute of Education, London (14th October 2017)

13th May 2017 : Presentation at Fundraiser for Free Safe Legal: A documentary following the campaign to decriminalise abortion in the UK & Northern Ireland.

St. Hilda’s Feminist Salon, Oxford in collaboration with Mara Clarke from Abortion Support Network (3rd March 2017) Podcast available at: https://sthildasfeministsalon.wordpress.com/listen/

Seminar Presentation, The Department of Drama, Queen Mary University of London (1th March 2017)

TEDx UCL Women, annual conference at University College London (29th October 2016)

Presentation at the Festival of Choice, Amnesty International London (2nd  October 2016)

Key Note Performance at 1916:Home: 2016, National University Galway (7th October 2016)

Presentation at Feminist Solidarity Fest 2016, London (4th September 2016)

Presentation at FLaK Seminar: Feminist Legal Studies, Queen Mary University (30 June-1 July 2016)

Presentation at Amnesty London Event, Human Rights Action Centre (13th June 2016)

Presentation at Riposte Magazine Launch on Everyday Activism (11th June 2016)

Presentation at Queer Caff, New Cross London in support of Abortion Support Network (7th February 2016)

Presentation at Pussy Patrons Feminist Performance Night, Limehouse Town Hall, London (23rd January 2016)

Speaker at Why Be an Activist?, University College London (15th December 2015)

Presentation at the Radical Assembly The Brady Arts Centre, London (11th October 2015)

Presentation at Second Annual Conference: What do Women Need?, Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment, Dublin (12 September 2015)

Presentation at Amnesty International for the Festival of Choice, London in collaboration with Central American Women’s Network (CAWN) and Amnesty International (September 2015)

Performance and Workshop as part of the exhibition From East to the Barbican, Barbican Centre London (22 August 2015)

Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A. are featured in the Women to Blame Exhibition which has been exhibited in Dublin (2014) and London (2015): https://www.facebook.com/womentoblameireland/

Speaking of I.M.E.L.D.A.’s work was shown at the World Conference in Sexuality Studies at Dublin City University (June 2015)

Presentation at ‘Directing Action’ as part of Performance Art Faction at ]performance s p a c e[, London (April 2015)

Presentation at City University London for the Amnesty International and Feminist Society (23rd March 2015)