Exhibitions | Margaret Anne Suggs

PEACE of Cake

Blueberry Cobbler
This project was born from an international group of professionals in children's book illustration—illustrators, writers, and curators—who first met in Bratislava in October 2023 at the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB). Their gatherings were filled with conversation, laughter, and shared slices of cake. After returning to their home countries, they decided to stay connected and transform their shared experience into an illustrated project—a celebration of how food, art, and storytelling nourish both the imagination and the heart.
Each member of the PoC group invited illustrators from their country to create a personal, meaningful, and imaginative cake – inspired by a real experience, a dream, or by pure creativity. The result? A diverse collection of cakes you can’t eat but will want to savour, each one filled with memories, emotions, and artistic flair.
We are honored to present this international "cake party" at the Bologna Book Fair and extend our gratitude to the Bologna team, especially Ms. Elena Pasoli, for welcoming this exhibition into the heart of the fair.
So go ahead—take a bite with your eyes and taste the stories behind every cake.

Serendipity

Serendipity is all about wonderful moments when creativity bumps into creativity—and something magical happens.
It began with artists from the RiSialto Bottega Creativa, who crafted a series of beautiful handmade pieces. These works were then passed along to picture-book illustrators from the Illustrators Guild of Ireland, who let their imaginations run wild and created brand-new illustrations inspired by them.
The result? A joyful creative conversation—full of collaboration, curiosity, and the delightful surprises that appear when ideas are shared.
For this exhibition, 29 illustrators were invited to respond to a selection of works created by 11 members of the RiSialto Bottega Creativa

Home Is Where the Heart Is

“Home is Where the Heart Is” is an experimental series of pop-up illustrated birdhouses. The idea of 'home' is universal, but these works are rooted in the personal. With the perspective of being an outsider (an immigrant) the artist has established a home in Ireland, but still empathises with refugees, immigrants, and transients. The birdhouses relate to ideas of migration, duality of belonging, and the ephemeral nature of home.
Exhibited 2025 in The Culturlann, Belfast, NI and 2022 - 2023 in Siamsa Tire- The National Folk Theatre, Kerry; Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford; The Lord Mayor's Pavilion (Sample Studios), Cork.

Praising the Dead

for ‘Praising the Dead’ came from the idea of ‘raising the dead’. We thought it would be interesting to see what iconic figures from Irish history our illustrators might like to bring back from the dead and re-introduce to the world. The requirement of ‘historical figure’ is left open to interpretation by the artist, but each artist has captured their historical figure’s essence and character. Some illustrations are very representational, some are more conceptual, but each reflects the artist who created the portrait. Each illustrated portrait is accompanied by an artist’s statement giving the reason that character was chosen. Come enjoy this second partnering of Illustrators Ireland and the Cultúrlann; an exhibition that is a light-hearted ‘who’s who’ of Ireland’s past.

In Memory of the Future

I was the curator and a participant in an exhibition in celebration of renowned illustrator, Tomi Ungerer. As our first honorary member, Ungerer accepted his place in Illustrators Ireland with grace and enthusiasm. Over 60 artists participated by sharing their interpretations of Ungerer’s work and responses to his influence.
This was shown in the DLR LexIcon in DunLaoghaire and the Culturlann in Belfast.

Exquisite Portraits

Juliette Saumande and I organised this exhibition during Lockdown in 2020. We involved the creative community by asking 20+ illustrators to create a metre-high portrait of their 'Lockdown' experience. 20+ writers then responded by adding a sentence about their experiences. We then asked the children of Ireland to respond by posting in their drawings which we then incorporated into the large artworks. This exhibition was shown in Dublin, Newbridge and Wexford.