Photographs by Beta Bajgart to celebrate International Women's Day
Boxer Kellie Harrington - one of the photographs by Beta Bajgart from her exhibition and book A Woman's Work to celebrate International Women's Day. The exhibition ( open to groups by appointment with OPW) and book launches in the Printworks Conference Centre in Dublin Castle on Wednesday March 8th, International Women's Day. In addition there will be open viewings until April 8th at weekends through A Woman's Work Facebook page.
Niki Collier is a felt designer. She completed a doctorate in computer science and worked as a university lecturer before giving it all up and pursuing her true passion. From birth, she has had limited use in her right hand, so all of her garments are designed to be opened and closed with only one hand. All photographs Beta Bajgart
Rosemary Smith is a phenomenally succesful rally driver. Her highlights include the rallies of Monte Carlo, the Circuit of Ireland, the Safari, London-Mexico, and the epic 17000km London-Sydney. Rosemary's biggest success was winning the Dutch 'Tulip' Rally in 1965. She is the only woman ever to win this race.
Teresa Hudson is a firefighter paramedic with the Dublin Fire Brigade. Her greatest achievment to date is completing the firefighter - paramedic training. Her job can be gruelling, both physically and emotionally, but nothing beats the feeling of knowing she has helped to bring a life into the world or saved one from leaving it.
Laura Kennedy is a prison officer in Mountjoy men's prison. She applied for the job initially just for the experience of doing the aptitude test. However she passed all the stages of the interview and since then she succesfully finished two Masters degrees. Laura is one of very few women in Dublin working in this highly demanding job.
Lisa Levins Burgess is a navigator in the RNLI Lifeboat Service in Clogherhead. She joined the crew twenty-one years ago. Lisa's husband Steve passed away in 2015. Because of his illness, they had planned to try IVF, and it proved successful first time. Lisa has a beautiful baby boy now and saving people's lives is her biggest passion.
Jen Kelly is an industrial abseiler - an aerial construction worker. She began her career in industrial abseiling in Melbourne, Australia. Jen now lives in Dublin and is a founder of the Women in Trades Network Ireland (WITNI) for Irish women who are either already working in skilled manual trades, or who are interested in learning skills with tools.
Danielle Barry is the only female Michelin Star Chef in Ireland. Her career began when she started washing pots in a local restaurant. She travelled the world and trained under many experienced chefs. She was awarded the Michelin star only eighteen months after she took the job as a head chef in the fine dining restaurant Eipic in Belfast.
April Cronin, former chess player, represented Ireland in the World Chess Olympiads, being classified as as Ireland's top female player throughout the 1980s. She received her first chess set when she was eight years old and taught herself from the instructions. Today April works as a primary school principal, where she also coaches her school's chess team.
Eimear Noone is a successful conductor and composer. She composed music for World of Warcraft, Diablo, Metal Gear Solid, Starcraft 2, Zelda and many other big computer and video games. She has conducted orchestras in every part of the world and she always listens to AC/DC's Back in Black before going out on stage.
Nicky Hughes had always had an interest in aircrafts and flying and she always wanted to be a pilot. She qualified for a cadetship programme with Aer Lingus eighteen years ago. Now she is a transatlantic pilot on the Airbus 330, flying to destinations like Chicago, San Francisco and New York.
Lena Singh was trained as a fibre optic and data cabling technician. With a lot of hard work she is now contracts manager for a network telecommunications company, and is responsible for 16 employees, all of whom are men.
Kellie Harrington has been boxing since the age of 16, and her dream is to represent Ireland one day at the Olympics. She won Silver in the 2016 World Championships in Kazakhstan. Kellie loves to fight, and loves the feeling that she gets between the ropes. She is equally passionate about her day job as a personal trainer. All photographs by Beta Bajgart from A Woman's Work.
