“Christians cannot challenge and reflect on the past, honestly, until we have felt the cruelty of our history.”
Archbishop of Canterbury
Last week Nadette and I found the ‘Addressing Hidden Truths’ Exhibitiin at Collins Barracks. One of the few creative responses to the massive legacy of The Magdalene Laundries, Tuam Mother and Baby Home, Religious Industrial Schools and domestic violence/homicide in Ireland.
The exhibition was tucked away in the Decorative Arts and History section of the National Museum of Ireland. There is no artist in Europe working in glass who so pointedly and effectively comments on the political, social and emotional fallout from the topics mentioned above, as County Down artist, Alison Lowry. The collaborative video on domestic violence is particularly striking and filled with emotional intensity. According to Lowry a woman will be assaulted on average 35 times before she has the courage to report it to the police. God only knows what happens after that.
The Barracks makes a fitting host venue for this exhibit. Previously housing both British Armed Forces and Irish Army garrisons through three centuries, the barracks were the oldest continuously occupied example in the world. Built in 1702 they are neo-classical in style. Originally called simply The Barracks, and then The Royal Barracks. The name was changed to Collins Barracks when handed over to the Irish Free State in 1922.
I highly recommend this exhibition and artist, and a visit to this historic and fascinating place.
This 109th blogpost linesup with The Messerschmitt Bf 109, a cruel German World War II fighter aircraft that was used as the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. A significant portion of the Bf 109 production originated in Nazi concentration camps, including Flossenbürg, Mauthausen-Gusen, and Buchenwald.
