Mayo arts centre reaches out with a chance to heal
A healing clay workshop with Holly Mullarkey takes place on Friday and Saturday, September 20 and 21, at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar. The team extend an invitation to anyone affected by the Tuam Mother and Baby Home story, or anyone who wishes to partake in a healing response to the anticipated exhumation of the bones of the 796 infants buried there, to attend.
One-third of the mothers, approximately 600 women, came from Mayo to the mother and baby home. That is a significant impact and societal wound. The Linenhall wishes to embrace the mothers, their stories and those affected through the healing power of the clay process.
An opening-up and gentle healing through clay, through memory, through openness, through the welcoming of a hidden story, Mullarkey highlights that the workshop aims to 'share story, share grief, share in the strength of the communal'.
Mullarkey is an artist, a teacher, an activist and a social justice advocate. Her workshops are delicate and sensitive.
A number of her recent exhibitions have explored grief through artistic connection with survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. She made porcelain baby shoes for the 2016 Commemoration of Tuam Baby Burials. With Clay Galway she exhibited porcelain bones 'Tumulus' ('burial mound') in 2019. For the European Capital of Culture 2020 Clay Galway online she exhibited 'Deora Dé,' a poem and video installation about the outcast mother using Tear Coracles, with ceramic artist Emma O'Toole.
Also facilitating the workshop is PRO of the Tuam Mother and Baby Alliance, Breeda Murphy. With a masters degree in public advocacy and activism, Breeda has voluntarily devoted her time to the human rights of survivors of institutional abuse and the rights of people with disabilities.
Attendance at the workshop, commencing at 11 a.m. on September 20 and 21 is free, however advanced booking is required. To book, or for further details see https://www.thelinenhall.com/whats-on/workshops/healing-clay-workshop-with-holly-mullarkey. Alternatively, the Linenhall box office team can be contacted on (094) 9023733.
The Linenhall Arts Centre acknowledges support by The Arts Council’s Artist in the Community (AIC) Scheme, managed by Create and Mayo County Council.