Etaoin Melville is a Cork-based visual artist, specialising in video and installation. She has received two Arts Council Agility Awards since 2021, during which time, she has been mentored by artist Aideen Barry and is collaborating with Linda Cullen (aerial artist, writer and performer) on a project called Backbone, focusing on issues around motherhood and the value we hold individually and as a society for this role, investigated through socially engaged co-created works.

She is currently exploring a new body of work ‘Ancestral Sap’ which combines film, stop frame animation, dry point print-making and painting and explores the complexities of women’s place in the world. By exploring our matrilineal lines, inherited trauma, and primal wisdom, this work seeks to provoke introspection and reconnection with ancestral knowledge.

This residency enabled Etaoin to develop these projects and bring them to a more resolved conclusion through further collaborations, in order to apply for future solo exhibition opportunities.

‘My time at the Triskel was a great opportunity to develop a new body of film installation work. During the residency, I experimented with projecting onto various surfaces and unconventional screens, crafting an interactive environment. Having access to the exhibition space was great for evaluating how the work responded to the space. The Triskel team were welcoming and incredibly supportive. It was also rewarding to receive feedback from visitors during the work-in-progress showing.’

Open Studio

To mark the final day of her residency, Etaoin hosted an Open Studio in Triskel Sample Project Space from 3-5pm on Sunday 10 November 2024.

About the Artist

Etaoin Melville is a visual artist based in Cork. She holds an Honours Degree in Visual Art, (TUD, Sherkin Island) and studied Film and T.V production in St. John’s College, Cork. She is a recipient of two Arts Council of Ireland Agility Awards and is a studio-based member of Sample-Studios.