WAAG - an archive

Mermaid Arts Centre's first exhibition for 2026, which visits from South Tipperary Arts Centre in partnership with NIVAL, the National Irish Visual Arts Library.

Curated by Helena Tobin and Iris Vos, WAAG - an archive revisits the Women Artists Action Group (1987-1991) through its archive of documents and images, examining the legacy and impact of the group on Contemporary Irish Art. 

WAAG was founded in April 1987 in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary and was active until 1991. A collaboration of women artists, art historians, and professionals working in the arts, the group was established in response to the lack of representation of women artists in Ireland, spurred by a series of well publicised Irish exhibitions during the 1980s that failed to include a single woman artist.

The main purpose of WAAG was to foreground the work of female artists, redress imbalances in the selection of works for galleries and to organise exhibitions and publications.  Women Artists Action Group was hugely successful organisation, quickly becoming part of the International Association of Women in the Arts (IAWA).

This in turn led to WAAG’s Slide Show exhibition being included as part of the 1987 Third International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in Dublin, igniting a fertile four years of activism, exhibitions, networking and peer support in Ireland and internationally for its members, many of whom are internationally renowned today. These include, but are not limited to, Pauline Cummins, Alice Maher, Louise Walsh, Patricia Hurl and Kathy Prendergast.

This exhibition was developed by and shown at South Tipperary Arts Centre in Clonmel in 2025. 

The archival material in this exhibition is on loan from NIVAL (The National Irish Visual Arts Library) located at NCAD, Dublin and from the personal collection of artist Pauline Cummins.

Photograph: Installation view of WAAG - an archive at South Tipperary Arts Centre, May 2025 by Kevin O’Donnell.

The artist's talk Women’s Art Activism: Reflections on WAAG with Dr Alessia Cargnelli will take place on Saturday 21 February from 2-4pm. Free, booking essential via the link

In partnership with the National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL), held at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). NIVAL is the foremost centre for the documentation of contemporary art and design in Ireland, providing access to over 150 special collections and archives and thousands of files, including the WAAG and NIWAAG archives. It is open to the public with free access to all of its materials. NIVAL is for you, whoever you are – there is something there for everyone, and they hope you come by.