Fantastic Exhibition of the Arts by Survivors – Take A Look

By rightofplace

June 20, 2012

18 Comments

Fantastic Exhibition of the Arts by Survivors – Take A Look

Right of Place Second Chance Exhibition – “Walk A Mile in My Shoes”

Supporting Talents through Adversity.

Mandy, Waterford City – “How awfully sad yet a testament to a childs inner strength. Unfortunatley not all Survived, shame on us all!”

Recently Held in Waterford City was an exhibition by Survivors and their families of their various types of Art, Craft, Poetry, Prose and General pieces of Craft.

It was simply a wonderful exhibition that helped to showcase the talents that exist amongst Survivors and the comment book that was open for all who viewed it to leave their own comment was heart warming. Comments such as:

Michael, Waterford City – “Beautiful Sense of the Struggle and Triupmh over adversity”

Noelle, Kilkenny – “Praise the Lord, all of your wonderful talents can be seen at last. God Bless All of you”

John, Waterford County – “Very Powerful”

It begins to give you a sense of just how wonderful this exhibition was.

The Purpose of the exhibition was to develop it into a journey. A way of showing us and the wider public, why these pieces of artwork were such a triumph. We created a pathway that brought people into the mind and the psyche of Survivors, from their childhood to many of their empowered states of mind and creativity now.

Here’s how we created this:

Step 1: The Childhood:

The Left part of the Wall is the picture above. It depicted what it was like for many Survivors. How could one possibly expect to learn in an institution when you were not even recognised as a name only a number.

The Below picture was testaments from Survivors of what many of the sentiments that were said to them each day of their schooling. We wanted to showcase this for the wider public to see how demoralising it was for generations of Irish Children. This was to the Right of the Above picture and received a powerful understanding:

Aoife, Waterford City – “Inspiring, simply inspiring – Helped show me a Survivors Childhood”

STEP 2: The Victim

The Second Part of Our Exhibition came onto our pictures. Many of these pictures were donated by Survivors of Right of Place Second Chance and many were harrowing to say the least. There was a caption associated, “Look into their Eyes”. As with any of the pictures regarding the institutions the sheer lack of facilities left a lot of people talking.

Anne from Waterford City – “Very Powerful”

Gerry From Waterford City – “Very Moving”

The Above formed only a small part of the exhibition as we wanted to focus the attention on the plight of Survivors but mainly on their achievments despite the adversity they suffered. This was the reason why we then brought people onto their third section, namely;

STEP 3: The Survivor

The Two Pictures above, formed the centre piece of our Exhibition. We wanted to catch the eye of the wider public by having memorable quotes from our Fromer Taoiseach and Former President. The purpose of this was to highlight the fact that this issue was not an isolated incident. It was not something that was carried out by a small section of our society, but a national tragedy that was recognised at the highest levels within our country.

Alan – Kilkenny City – “I was so very moved by your work, my heart goes out to everyone”

We also began to include a number of the additional Art pieces by our Survivors. I am sure you will agree they are fantastic. They began to aid in the national transition in our journey / exhibition to showcasing the talents and showing to our citizens that despite the obsticals they had just witnessed Survivors were Empowered to achieve fantastic pieces of Art and Literature.

Maeve, Unknown – “Fantastic and Heart Rending, I never realised the sheer scale”

STEP 4: Empowerment

The Skill showcased in the Above paintings and craft is simply breathtaking. When one considers the history of Survivors, to see the work that they have built and created is simply fantastic. It is a true testament to the dedication and talents through adversity. The amount of people blown away by some of this artwork was staggering and long may it continue.

Kate, Waterford City – “Great Exhibition”

John, Waterford City – “Empowering!”

Anonymous – “Fantastic, Keep up the Great work that you do”

STEP 4: Empowerment Continued

The Final Picture above was a continuation of our Empowerment. It was a collection of Poetry and Prose by Survivors and their family members. To say I was overwhelmed by the sheer passion and emotion involved in them was an understatement. They told stories, from deep within the soul of Survivors, expressing their inner most thoughts and feelings. The topics were as diverse as, Love, Mothers, The institutions, their childhood, their adulthood, nature etc. The Poetry really was excellent was of a very high standard, indeed one of the comments on our comment book advised this:

Julie, Unknown – “Was very moved by the Power of your poetry. I felt so sad that any of you had to endure what you did and very inspired by the strength you all Show.”

So that came to the end of our exhibition. For a Pilot project it proved immensley popular, worthwile and left a lasting impression in so many peoples minds. Some of the additional comments left are as follows;

Pat, Co. Carlow – “Simply Incredible an thank you for letting us see”

Anne, Waterford City – “Very Expressive and Worthwhile”

Mr. Hearn, Unknown – “Good Work”

Terese, Waterford County – “Great Work”

Trish, Unknown – “Keep up the Fantastic Work”

Collette – “Excellent Exhibition”

Eamonn, Waterford – “A beautiful, fantastic way of making sure we never forget”

Two final comment’s that was left on our comment book;

Shirley, Waterford City – “The Path is sometimes long, hard and never ending. The trials suffered and conquored make us stronger and more able to face what is to come. The path will end… how we face this ending depends on us… Survivors will face their end, THEIR way”

Anonymous – “Wonderful to see talents promoted that were kept silent for so long. I can really begin to feel and understand the pain, but appreciate the ability to come through it with the support you offer and through the works on display”

I hope you enjoyed looking at the exhibition as I know all those that could attend were very moved by it, and the comments out lined abve which come directy from our comment book help to show this.

Finally I would like to thank All the staff in Right of Place, especially those Support Staff in the Waterford Office for establishing the exhibition, but more importantly to who the exhibition was about – You the Survivor and your family member. For wanting to display your amazing artwork, poetry etc they were simply incredible and for the many hundreds who viewed over the course of the week, you have left a lasting impression. My sincerest thanks to all those that contributed!