Juno Hartigan Interview

When did you first get into design, and what made you want to start?

Juno: I always had some element of design in my life. When I was a child I would hand sew clothes together for my dolls. When I was 12 I got my first sewing machine, it was a little white one from Lidl. My mum and grandma had sewn and knitted my whole life. My mum had made her first wedding dress out of crocheted cotton. I still have it in my wardrobe. She also crocheted my dress for her wedding, it was a small red mohair dress with matching white cotton floral details to her dress.

My grandfather is an architect, glassworker and engineer, again a huge influence on my work and life. He actually made the glass tank for my piece  “Alma Mater”.

There was never a conscious decision for me to start designing or creating, I feel like it's always been some kind of birthright, something genetic. 

What’s your favourite piece you’ve made? Can you go into the backstory of why you created it?

Juno: GOTBIGMILK and Alma Mater hold really special places in my heart. The research and work that was invested into GOTBIGMILK felt like putting pieces of a puzzle together; finding scientific papers online, council projects in Ireland requesting less harmful farming approaches, learning about incredible feminist writers and artists and absolutely enveloping myself in their work; every part of it was so special and it really showed me how I want to move forward with my work. 

Alma Mater is my current sculptural piece, it’s a very grief driven project. I feel for myself, my grief, person and environment have a symbiotic relationship, a refusal to allow it to consume me and more of an understanding that we both must exist, I allow my grief to exist and be as it is, I don’t feel it’s productive to push it to the side and pretend it doesn’t exist. Grief doesn’t understand boundaries, I feel it will take up space whether you like it or not, I allow it space and it allows me space. Alma Mater for me is centred around the grief I feel for my body and life. As a disabled person it can be hard to mourn how your life should have and could have been, to accept and move forward with how you must live your life, and how it doesn't feel or look like you wanted it to. I've had to centre my life around my disability, making changes to accommodate my pain, needs and capabilities. I’ve made peace with this, and  Alma Mater is a declaration of this peace. 

There’s so much to take inspiration from in our environment and through personal experiences; where do you find yourself getting the most inspiration for your work?

Juno: Human connection and condition is my main inspiration. I  think we are all too disconnected from each other and our environment, we forget how intrinsic and essential community and compassion is. We aren’t supposed to lack empathy and understanding for each other. I want to connect with everything around me.

Who are your favourite artists, and how do you think your taste has helped you develop personal style?

Juno: Dorothy Cross is the first artist that immediately comes to mind; I think she’s such an under-appreciated artist. She unabashedly made statements through her art in a time that very few were able to even begin to touch on with the grace and beauty she did. 

I admire Tim Walker’ commitment to physical design within his photography so much, he creates such incredible pieces and invests so much into them never allowing himself to rely on post production to create his worlds.

How Michaela Stark celebrates and clearly shows her love for women and the body through her work really inspires my fashion design work;  I think she's just incredible.

So you’re working on a sculptural piece at the end of the month, can you tell me a little more about the process behind it?; What inspired you to create it, and how do you hope people interpret it?

Juno: I hope people interpret it however it applies to them. I hope it creates connection and conversation, whether internal or external, about our grief. For me, alma mater has been a really emotional process; It felt very cathartic and exposing, almost like an admittance to how ill I’ve been, and how much it has affected me. 

Are there any other projects you’re excited to work on in the future?

Juno: I'm excited to continue developing and nurturing these ideas I spoke on before; I have some more work related to GOTBIGMILK I’m developing right now, with my collaborator Katie Abdullah.