For four hours, the artist, cut lemons, sucked the juice from them and then discarded them on the floor, while making and drinking copious amounts of tea, and singing.

The State as a Monster is part of a series of performances by the artist which explore the role of women’s work in child rearing and caring, specifically focusing on women parenting alone in receipt of social welfare support. The artwork questions the dominant representation and perception of such women in state administration processes and documents, and juxtaposes this with a creative response to the living testimony of women living within these circumstances gathered during the development process.

Commissioned as part of Right Here, Right Now a seminal live performance event in Ireland at Kilminahan Jail Dublin, curated by artists Amanda Coogan, Dominic Thorpe and Niamh Murphy.
20 Irish artists performed for four hours together simultaneously at this seminal event in Kilmainhan Jail.