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Deirdre O’Mahony, b.1956, The Loy Association of Ireland, b.1992

The Model Plot, 2016-2025

The Model Plot at IMMA is a sculptural planting by artist Deirdre O’Mahony developed in collaboration with members of The Loy Association of Ireland.

The work considers future food security, biodiversity and performative action in the face of climate change and leans on alternative forms of knowledge and historically inherited technology to highlight the small actions that can be taken by everyone to grow food and sustain pollinators, soil and the environment. An experiment in collective knowledge, shared skills, and communal output, it explores sustainable ways to interact with the earth.

Originally developed as The Village Plot for the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2016, the series has seen four additional iterations, which includes: PLOT I (2021-present) at VISUAL, Carlow; PLOT II (2021), a sister project for VISUAL, featuring at the Gangwon Triennial; MODEL PLOT (2022) at Brookfield Farm; and, coming full circle, The Model Plot (2025) that has been adapted for the particular context of IMMA and added to the museum collection.

MediumPotato ridges, potatoes, plant seeds
Dimensions Dimensions variable
Credit LineIMMA Collection: Purchase, 2023
Item NumberIMMA.4458
Copyright © the artist
Irish Museum of Modern Art, A Village Plot, 2016. Laying out manure on lawn
For copyright information, please contact the IMMA Collections team: [email protected].
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Image Caption
Deirdre O’Mahony, The Loy Association of Ireland, The Model Plot, 2016, Potato ridges, potatoes, plant seeds, Dimensions variable, Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, Purchase, 2023

For copyright information, please contact the IMMA Collections team: [email protected].

  • About the Artist

    • Deirdre O’Mahony

    Deirdre O’Mahony, b.1956

    Deirdre O’Mahony (b. Limerick, 1956) graduated with a BA Fine Art from St. Martin’s School of Art (1979), MA Fine Art (Research) Crawford College of Art Cork (2005) and PhD (2012) University of Brighton.

    Based in Ireland, her career spans over 30 years making work across sculpture, painting, film, installation and participatory projects. Her practice focuses on the politics of landscape, rural and urban relationships, rural sustainability and food security. She considers the role of art in bringing together diverse communities, alternate forms of knowledge, embracing art as a critical space to help us see things differently.

    Recent exhibitions and projects include Between A Rock and A Hard Place at VISUAL, Carlow (2025); The Quickening at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin and Kunstverein, Amsterdam (2024); EVA International, Limerick (2023); Eat Food Policy Feast, Kunstverein Aughrim (2023); SPUD (2019-2009); A Village Plot at The Irish Museum of Modern Art (2016).

    O'Mahony has received numerous awards and residencies, nationally and internationally; and her work is represented in public and private collections including the Arts Council of Ireland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

     

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    The Loy Association of Ireland

    The Loy Association of Ireland, b.1992

    The Loy Association of Ireland was founded in 1992 with the aims to foster the tradition of using the loy to turn the sod, let people know the sort of spade that was used before the introduction of the factory spade in 1750, show young people and future generations how food was produced in the past, hold competitions in Loy digging to demonstrate the skill involved in this ancient art and popularise Loy digging across the 32 Counties of Ireland.

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