Loss
Autumn 2010 -March 2012 (extended)
(Dialogue Art Space, 43A Vyner Street, London E29DQ)
Since the foundation of the Irish State a great many people have been forced to emigrate in search of a better life - sometimes just for life itself - and the United Kingdom was the first port of call for many hundreds of thousands.
Among these emigrants were a group of individuals who had been incarcerated in Ireland’s State-sanctioned Religious institutions and, on release, they fled traumatised from Ireland and found sanctuary in the UK.
After decades of cover-up, recent State investigations have, at last, uncovered the scale of the abuse perpetrated against Irish children by Church and State. The reports published answer in painful detail the questions of what was done to children in Irish institutions, how it was done and where it was done, but other more disturbing questions remain; the questions of why this abuse was allowed to happen and what is to be done now.
I believe that those involved - the victims, the perpetrators, the colluders and those who stood idly by while children were exploited, raped and tortured - know the why. It was because these children didn’t matter. They were rubbish children and so people felt they could do whatever they wanted to them without consequences. And they were right; they didn’t have to face consequences at the time the abuse happened and they haven’t had to face any consequences since.
In the investigations into child abuse in Religious-run State institutions over 30% of those who gave testimony came from the UK to do so. The work in Loss is intended to highlight their issues and bring understanding and acknowledgment to their particular plight and the generations of children who came after them.
Artists Talk - 'The politics and culture of the performance of inclusion'
By Gerard Mannix Flynn 4pm Saturday October 16th 2010 at Dialogue Artspace
Performance James X, October, Jan, April
Podcast - Mannix Flynn talks about 'Padded Cell and other stories'
Remnants (of our past)
Dialogue, 43A Vyner St,
London, E2 9DQ
Sep 2008 onwards
The first show to be exhibited at Dialogue will be ‘Remnants’ (of our Past). This new work forms part of an ongoing process which seeks to acknowledge the end of violence and conflict between the islands of Ireland and England, as symbolised and actualised by the process of decommissioning. The work reflects both on the past and the future relationship between the people of these islands and ultimately it is about ownership of peace and all its processes.
The work incorporates film, talks, visual art and an invitation during the event to members of the public to come at various stages and enjoy their breakfast, lunch or dinner ‘in peace’.
Every end of conflict should be a celebrated process. When something ends people need rituals to mark its passing - think of armistice day, or of the formal ceremonies surrounding death, common to all faiths. The decommissioning process that took place on the island of Ireland was relayed to the Irish people through verbal testimony, no visual record was made available to the public. Remnants of our past is a cultural representation of the peace process in Northern Ireland, the end of hostilities and conflict between Ireland and the UK and the emergence of ownership of peaceful destiny.
With endings come beginnings and ‘Remnants’ (of our Past) is part of the journey towards a brighter, more progressive, prosperous and peaceful future in which everybody can share.
For more details visit www.dialogueatvynerst.co.uk.
