A ROLL CALL OF WHAT’S
AS a nation we see ourselves as relatively new but still fractured, countries within a country, a result of colonialism and imperialism to some while others feel more attached to our nearest neighbours who ruled for over 800 years.
The Irish view ourselves as a nation once oppressed and though this is the truth, it’s also only part of it as a new exhibition by the artist Anthony Haughey reveals.
We Make Our Own Histories is Haughey’s exhibitions to mark the Decade of Centenaries is currently running at the National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks as part of his work as artist in residence there.
And the exhibition provides startling insights into Ireland’s own past through the items discovered in the museum’s collections and also hope of a brighter future through the voices of our young people.
‘On one hand it is an institutional critique of the museum and how these historical collections resonate today because we know that a lot of those collections are imbued with the dark shadow of colonialism,’ says Haughey.
‘Really it is exploring a whole ideology around nation building which I think is central to the way museums collect and the way they represent our culture.’
Haughey says the exhibition also looks at Ireland’s own ‘unfinished business’ where certain elements of the Proclamation have yet to be fulfilled.
‘The Proclamation is not a perfect blueprint but nevertheless many of those promises were not fulfilled. So we had a young people’s assembly featuring schools from the north, south, east and west of the country and asked questions about what our future Republic will look like and how can that Republic be truly inclusive.’
IN these days where museums are under scrutiny for hoarding items of cultural significance stolen from the country where they originated, Ireland is not exempt, despite our own colonial past.
As a military museum, Collins Barracks is home to items that reflect some gruesome stories of brutality at home and abroad.
In Remember to Forget The Past, three African-Irish women reveal surprising stories about some of the