Experience
The 1916 Rising was an armed uprising in Ireland and a catalytic moment in Ireland's independence from Britain. This seminal moment in history, which is rarely taught in Britain, has created the current cultural climate between both nations and has had effects on the socio-political relations visible today. The activity of this project is to demonstrate and further the understanding of this important event through the lives of the Irish in London. 2016 is a year in which England and Ireland can reflect on the last 100 years and pro-actively learn about their shared history through the eyes of the Irish in Britain. The aim of this project is to elucidate how the heroic momentum of a small nation rising against an imperialist regime was not only an act of rebellion and violence but a catalyst. This reflection on generational consensus will open the debate on ideas of emigration, conflict, and multiculturalism.
Projections involves artists, academics and community groups based in London, mapping this story and allowing audiences to immerse themselves physically and emotionally in the rich and complex history the two nations share. This turbid history is woven in stories, events, and generational shifts. Projections will unravel this narrative and present it a way that can be understood as a cohesive whole. A constellation of chronological timelines will be visible underfoot providing a map to the audience. Above will hang 100 successive sheets of diaphanous green canvas,that illustrate historical events and people, and can be traversed and explored.
Projections is an immersive art installation narrating the lives of members of the Irish Diaspora in England through an illustrative and tactile experience. The production involves placing interviews with members of Irish émigré in London in the context of Irish-British History. The installation will fill a 120sqm space f with suspended layers of green canvas with AV media hidden within the folds. The installation is explored freely, providing a didactic and engaging lesson in how stories of the diaspora are intrinsically linked and how a country's history can continue beyond its borders.
Interviews previously undertaken with members of the Diaspora will be presented in the exhibition through small speakers hidden throughout the experience. These interviews will help inform the images and give the piece an intimate and personal feeling.
This Project is about who we are now, and why. Storytelling and culture have been a core part of the creation of the idea of “Irishness”. Projections is an inclusive and educational project that creates generational links between the young, the old and what we all are in relation to Ireland since 1916. By mapping these relationships and illustrating their importance, audiences will be able to locate themselves with the varied and collective history of the Diaspora in London . This project aims to remind people that the Irish Diaspora is united through it’s history and that our current collective personality has been formed from a common lineage. The Diaspora is scattered geographically, professionally and socially but our history is shared with each other and our neighbours on this Atlantic archipelago.
Projections can be divided into three main sections, the illustrations, the canvas and the time-line. Each part is created by a different group within the project and allows for a multidisciplinary design process. The first step involves collating historical information from the community groups and academic resources. This creates the main narrative for the piece and will act as a map to visitors. Once complete Artist and illustrators will create drawn murals of the main events from the time-lines, for each of the characters showing how the histories overlap and intertwine. Finally, the green canvas sheets will be arranged within the venue and the illustrations painted in large format onto the fabric. The topographical map under foot will help situate the visitors in time providing a temporal dimension to the exhibition
Irish acceptance into British society has been far from simple or straight-forward. Throughout the long history of British colonialism in Ireland and emigration to Britain, the Irish have been constructed as the ‘other’; in opposition to the formation of a hegemonic British national identity. This notion is generally no longer upheld so ubiquitously; meaning that ideas of national identity have had to change radically in many parts of the country. This project will engage participants in the idea of nationality and allow them to question what historical drivers have sculpted their current generation.
With the recent shift in perspective towards immigrants in the shadow of the Brexit campaign, This project shows the importance of inclusivity and how the historic emigrant class of Irish people have come to be accepted and included in British Society
