‘and then I ran’, visualises the narrative surrounding my father's adoption, through my grandmother Muriel’s recollection of escaping a mother and baby home, 1964, Castlepollard, Ireland. The societal stigma around unwed mothers in Ireland was deeply entrenched, a system orchestrated by church and state subduing women to secrecy while neglecting to provide adequate care for mothers and babies. A deep shame culminating in the separation and exportation of babies, as well as oppressive conditions experienced by these women.
The project employs self-portraiture and performative elements of reenactment referring to my grandmother's escape and is a visual representation of loss and absence. Sat between image, text and documentary images the work explores themes of purity and the expiation of sins, shedding light on the oppressive conditions and psychological maltreatment experienced by women in Ireland. From 1922 until 1998, around 56,000 women and 57,000 children were placed into these homes.
Mother and baby homes were funded by the government and run by religious order. These homes subjugated unwed mothers into secrecy while neglecting to provide adequate care for mothers and babies. The project explores Ireland’s deep shame culminating in the separation and exportation of babies, as well as oppressive conditions experienced by these women. Mothers were made to feel ostracised for giving birth, and shamed in to purification being told to wash away all sins of childbirth.
Exhibited at University of Arts MA Photojournalism and Documentary Grad Show from Wednesday 15th November-Saturday 18th November.