NOT AT HOME: How art and fashion can help to support women's rights

I have some strong views on this blog. I believe in having a platform to use your voice that goes beyond talking about lipgloss and trends.

While some may feel that coming to a fashion site to talk about gay marriage, abortion, rights for women, equality is not the time or place - but in my eyes? it's essential.

As an Irish woman living in the UK, I am constantly amazed and saddened by the attitude to sex here. I'm amazed at the access that British women enjoy and the freedom to express their sexuality freely and to be supported by their health care system when things go wrong. I feel sad because I think of the difference back home where 12 women a day leave Ireland to access safe abortion care because their country has completely failed them.

'It doesn't happen here' being the attitude of most. While women risk infections, complications and much more travelling back to Ireland after they have a procedure. That is before we talk about cost which makes abortion a choice only for those who can afford to travel.

I talk about abortion loudly. I talk about choice loudly. I tell women here the frustration, the pain and the hurt caused by our laws and they simply can't believe it. We are so close in terms of proximity and share so many simularities with British women yet we have this one huge difference.

I really want to see the change. I want 2018 to be the year that we all get a vote, get a chance to REPEAL THE 8TH and make a difference. I want safe, legal and easy access to abortion for all those who need it in the country where they live, love and pay taxes.

So how can you support?

There are a number of ways in which a love of fashion can help support the cause.

The first?

These jumpers (and tote) come from the Not at Home project.

'NOT AT HOME — the waiting room, is an archive of testimony of women who have made this journey. Since April 2016, we have been collecting anonymous testimonies from women online. We now have a crowd sourced text of women’s experiences travelling abroad. In June 2017, we visited BPAS Merseyside in Liverpool. From these texts and our experience of re-creating this journey, we will create a durational art work at NCAD Gallery in September, featuring video, sound installation and live performance. The piece is grounded in the artistic intention is to attempt to collect, represent and make visible every story, every experience of those 163,514 women. That is our task for the process and the performance. We will continue to gather stories, and women will be able to contribute their story to the archive at the installation.

NOT AT HOME is a durational art campaign by Emma Fraser (Nine Crows) & Grace Dyas (THEATREclub) to make visible the experiences of women who travel abroad to access safe abortion services, to highlight the consequences of Ireland’s abortion laws and to connect women who have travelled in solidarity.'

The clothing is available from nine crows website

The second?

It's hard not to mention the Repeal.ie crowd. Their REPEAL jumpers became a huge hit last year. While they are restocking and relaunching soon, their jumpers are still everywhere and an instant way to show support