Supervised by Dr Timothy Stott, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, Trinity College Dublin.

This research will examine the relationship between queer identities and domestic spaces in Dublin in the first half of the twentieth century. I will be focusing on sapphic individuals due to the inherent subversion of the historical association between femininity, heteronormativity, and domestic space. I will seek to identify patterns of privacy within the architectural and design history of early twentieth-century Dublin. Irish designer Eileen Gray prioritised privacy within her architecture and design, and I hope to find similar models within the homes of other sapphic Irish women. 

The study of domestic space is a less conventional approach to queer history than that or political or activist histories. As a traditionally female sphere, domestic and design histories are particularly conducive to uncovering aspects of women’s history and by extension, sapphic history. This will bring to light the lives and lived experiences of women who are often excluded from the historical narrative.

Much of the existing scholarship on queer history centres around the use of public space; while this is extremely valuable in reclaiming spaces in which queer individuals have historically been excluded, this liberation model often does not apply to sapphic individuals led lives not easily categorised by modern labels. My hope is that by examining domestic spaces and the ways in which they were inhabited, it is possible to bring to light the women who have fallen between the cracks of queer scholarship without imposing ahistorical categorisations onto their lives. 

My research is rooted in the work of such scholars as Jasmine Rault, Laura Doan, Jane Garrity, and Bridget Elliott, all of whom have been instrumental in establishing the concept of 'sapphic modernity' to describe a visual and social culture that emerged in the early decades of the twentieth century. I hope to apply these same themes and forms of analysis to Dublin history. 

Project Goals

I will be looking at the ways in which these women chose to hide or reveal aspects of their lives through the design of their homes, viewing the home as a space in which women have autonomy and control. Ultimately, I hope to find evidence of a queer ‘counterpublic’ in twentieth-century Dublin, through the examination of the homes of individuals.  The study of this space presents an opportunity to uncover the typically hidden lives within the intersection of queer and Irish histories.