Studio Session: Love Objects

How are love and emotion embodied in material form?

The Love Objects Studio Session explores the material forms of love and devotion. Contributors to this new publication discuss their research on subjects ranging from shoes made by women at home in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to narrative and meaning in women's sex shops, and the bleeding statues of Templemore in early 20th century Ireland. 

Showcasing the issues presented in the Bloomsbury publication Love Objects: Emotion, Design and Material Culture, the sessions explores the emotional potency of things, addressing how objects can function as active participants in and mediators of our relationships, as well as tokens of affection, foci for devotion and symbols of both fun and sexual liberation.

The session, introduced by editors Dr Sorcha O'Brien (Kingston University) and Dr Anna Moran (NCAD, Dublin) and chaired by Prof Jessica Hemmings (Head of Visual Culture, NCAD), will be followed by a reception at which Prof Penny Sparke (Kingston University) will officially launch the publication.

Speakers:

Noreen McGuire (Independent scholar, London)
Noreen graduated from NCAD with an MA in Design History and Material Culture, and her MA thesis has formed the basis for her contribution to Love Objects. She has assisted with preparations at the V&A for an upcoming shoe exhibition and  the ‘Europe 1600-1800’ project.

Dr Ann Wilson (Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland)
Ann lectures in Visual Culture and Design History at the Cork Institute of Technology. She has published work on the Irish Gothic and Celtic Revivals, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Irish Catholic material culture.

Dr Fran Carter (Independent scholar)
Fran has recently gained her doctorate from Kingston University, School of Art and Design History. Her research takes a material culture perspective, examining the female orientated sex shop in terms of its visual presence, looking at the way design is harnessed to contribute to discourse around female sexuality.