Erin Heavey
The Rural Electrification Scheme of 1946 marked the beginning of widespread electricity in Ireland, bringing power to the most rural and isolated communities in the country. The introduction of household electricity proved to have a huge impact on the lives of women, with kitchen and cleaning appliances drastically reducing manual labour in the home.
“Electricity was disruptive to the old ways of life... Many housewives were unhappy with how the new light revealed the previously hidden cobwebs in their homes.”
"Rural electrification meant that, along with more prosaic lighting, the Sacred Heart lamp could be converted to electricity. Perpetually burning without intervention"
The Magdelene Laundries had been in operation for 179 years in 1946.
They continued to run for 50 more years, until the last one closed in 1996.
This project explores the dichotomy between the newfound ‘liberation’ of Irish women through access to electricity, and the subjugation they faced under the Catholic church.
In the Glow of the Sacred Heart is a series of images of a two-part set. Using the Sacred Heart’s electrification as a motif to shine light on what Irish women were dealing with under the cover of darkness.
The Meltin' Pot
Documentary recreation of the crash of a B17 Flying Fortress.
The Meltin' Pot is a documentary featuring reconstructed depictions of a WWII B17 fighter plane.
The documentary centres around a dive crew who ventured to discover the wreckage of the plane after it crashed off the coast of Donegal.
Mirror of Time
Directed by Ciara Schaefer
Set in a dystopian future where people over 60 are euthanised, providing relief for an overpopulated planet, they get 10 minutes to revisit past versions of themselves. Myself and Grace O'Sullivan achieved the final look through a combination of set dressing, prop making, and physical build.
Transitional spaces are the connecting places that join disparate locations
together, used every day but their relevance is often overlooked. Hallways,
staircases, bridges, doors, etc. - built with the sole purpose of transportation
from one place to another, we often forget to look past the utility of these
spaces and explore them as settings in their own right. This thesis explores the
qualities of transitional spaces and argues for their significance as a filmic
metaphor for childhood transformation. When coming- of-age feels like a
journey between youth and maturity, the path in-between can feel endless. The
growing-up process is subjective to individual experience, so to know when one
has ‘arrived’ at adulthood is unclear. To those in the midst of development,
their journey has begun but the abstracted nature of the destination keeps
them in a seemingly perpetual transitional space.
Using semiotic analysis, with reference to film theory and visual and material
culture, this thesis examines 5 films with child protagonists that make use of
interstitial spaces to explore the psyche of the characters, categorised by the
relationship to reality displayed by the filmic settings – reality based with
supernatural elements, entirely reality based, and entirely fantastical - The
Shining (1980), The Florida Project (2017), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Alice in
Wonderland (1951) , and Alice in Wonderland (2010).
Erin Heavey is an emerging talent graduating with a degree in Production Design. Over the course of her studies she has honed her skills as a designer, through collaboration on multiple short films, designing for live performances, and delving into conceptual work.
Alongside her final year at IADT, she took on an art department role for Dancing with the Stars Ireland, where she gained invaluable on-set experience in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment.
Over the last four years, Erin has developed a diverse skill-set, specialising in tools such as AutoCAD, SketchUp, V-Ray, Photoshop and more.
