Exquisite Portraits is a beast of a project, created during the first lockdown of 2020. Instigated by illustrator Margaret Anne Suggs, and author Juliette Saumande, it involves 26 illustrators from or living in Ireland and 20 children’s writers and poets. It is both individual and collective. It is fun, it is moving; it looks huge, it chronicles the tiny. It is the very definition of ‘together apart’. The visual exhibition is a series of giant images (each one 1 metre high!) representing an artist and their confinement family. Each in their own style, they share with us the faces of those with whom they have lived through these extraordinary times: partners, characters, imaginary friends and oodles of animals. And as you feast your eyes, keep your ears open for the strangely beautiful poem crafted by the writers about their own take on those extraordinary circumstances. Both the illustrated and written ‘Exquisite Portraits’ capture instants in time, with an array of moods as wide and colourful as the variety of experiences of life in lockdown.

The illustrators who took part in Exquisite Portraits:
Martin Beckett, David Butler, Ashwin Chacko, Rachel Corcoran, Sarah Cunningham, Chrissy Curtin, Audrey Dowling, Linda Fahrlin, Tatyana Feeney, Brian Fitzgerald, Adrienne Geoghegan, Olivia Golden, Helena Grimes, Róisín Hahessy, Lydia Hughes, PJ Lynch, Shona Shirley Macdonald, Paula McGloin, Paula Moen, Karen Nolan, Jennifer O’Brien, Anne O’Hara, Kim Sharkey, Margaret Anne Suggs, Caitriona Sweeney & Úna Woods

The children’s writers & poets who took part in Exquisite Portraits:

Exhibition by Illustrators Ireland

Illustrators Ireland is a non-profit organisation that supports the development of Illustration in Ireland by showcasing the work of our members and fostering links with similar organisations at home and abroad.