Stereotype

I grew up in Dundalk, a border town where the shadow of the North often shaped how others saw me. When I moved to Limerick for college, I became the punchline of IRA jokes and accusations, my identity reduced to a stereotype. My wardrobe, black clothes, steel-toed boots, and a beret, seemed to confirm the story people had already written for me. My style became their proof, a costume in someone else’s imagined narrative.

Rather than push back against these assumptions, I chose to step right into them. In this series of self-portraits, drawings, and prints, I become the fictional IRA volunteer that others seemed to see in me. By leaning into the stereotype and stretching it to its limits, I reveal just how absurd it really is. The figure I embody is not a hero, a threat, or a political symbol, but a caricature built from misunderstanding and everyday bias.

Humour is at the heart of this work. The images present exaggerated and often farcical scenarios, showing the irrational nature of the assumptions made about me. Through performance and self-representation, I change personal experience into a critique of stereotyping, questioning how easily people reduce complex identities to appearances, accents or places of origin.

This series is ultimately about the gap between who we are and who others imagine us to be.