Histories in the making
Anthony Haughey’s startling exhibition on where we’ve come from and we’re going
artefacts that have meaning to them in terms of their own personal histories.
It is a powerful piece, where Rita Petlane recalls the bravery of the women of the Dunnes strike who took a stand against apartheid and the significance their standing in solidarity had to women like
Rita. Lauretta Igbosonu is another of the women from Anthony’s workshops and the items she choses are from Benin, where she grew up.
The Benin Bronzes are controversial cultural artefacts, around 5,000 bronze carvings stolen by the British from the Kingdom of
Benin in 1897. The brass artworks were looted and huge quantities of ivory were also stolen, but the natives of Benin were also slaughtered in a rampage of mass murder, destruction and plundering.
‘The Benin Bronzes are indeed beautiful but they were also used in religious ceremonies and shrines, giving them an important spiritual side,’ Lauretta explains.
‘Their real value is not about money but their cultural, spiritual and historical value. These objects are powerful in their homeland but powerless inside the glass cases of European museums,’ she says. ‘I think museums are mournful places. It’s like visiting a cemetery or the ruins of an imperial past where histories and memories collide. But like the phoenix rising from the ashes it is also a place full of exciting possibilities where we can reimagine and reclaim our own histories.’
In a Dress For Akunma, a dress that fuses Irish Ogham script and Nsibidi, a 2000 BCE ideographic script indigenous to the Ejagham peoples of southeastern Nigeria has been created by Anthony and Akunma,a young African Irish woman and member of the Nwanne Diuto African Women’s group. There is also A Dress For Ramlah , which is a collaboration between Leina Ibnouf, Rita Petlane, artist Blathnaid McClean and Anthony Haughey, fusing Irish, South African and Sudanese cultures.
And in A Flag for Ireland more than 300 participants were invited by Haughey in a series of artist led workshops to reimagine a flag for Ireland, one hundred years on from the foundation of the state. In the exhibition, visitors can see all 306 flag designs in books , as well as engage with 40 life size flags displayed on flagpoles.
Over 500 members of the public are named as co-creators
OVER 500 people were involved in the various projects and groups that make up We Make Our Own Histories. And while our landscape at times might seem bleak, Haughey’s Young Person’s Assembly and the manifesto it produced are cause for hope. A taste of the new manifesto includes an end to homelessness, protection for the most vulnerable in society and a promise to ensure public health not private profit.
To have a brighter future it is essential that we confront our past and the museum is making preparations for the Benin Bronzes it has in its collection to be repatriated. And while colonial pasts can now be viewed through a different prism, Ireland’s future can only be what we make it. If the youth of Haughey’s projects win out, then we will be in good hands. We Make Our Own Histories is a thought-provoking exhibition that reveals the untapped potential of our nation, running at the National Museum of Ireland Decorative Arts and History, Collins Barracks, Dublin now.