My name Bernadette Geraghty tells the story of my heritage. That of a Celtic and catholic ancestry. I was born and raised on Bundjalung Country in Northern NSW Australia. My family of origin were farmers and my first experience of belonging was to that beautiful fertile land. Place, Belonging, and Longing for what has been lost are major themes in all my creative pursuits.
I make with words, photographs, clay, paint, textiles and ink. I particularly like to find the intersections between these different mediums.
In my everyday life I work as a mental health doctor and have been deeply influenced by Carl Jung and Marion Woodman’s work. I have a special interest in the developmental psychology of women. A larger concern is how patriarchy has repressed the Feminine and wounded the Masculine. In over forty years in this field I have been part of and witnessed a changing landscape where mindfulness and becoming trauma informed mainstreamed. This changed a great deal for many of us.
My art making is about making my intellectual concerns visible. Putting the inner into the outside world. I honour the sacred Feminine and create with a belief that this is part of restoring her Union with the divine Masculine. I think it is possible for the creative energy in each of us to transmute both our individual and collective wounds. That beauty is made in the actual act of creating and authentic erotic connection is in the gifting of our creations.
That this has profound healing powers.
The wound is the golden point. And love is medicine.