Women of Influence, an exhibition at Cavan County Museum
An exhibition featuring women who have influenced Irish Society from 1900 to 2000, opened on Tuesday 2nd April at Cavan County Museum, Ballyjamesduff as a temporary show. This exhibition was researched by Laura Servilan Brown as part of the Decade of Centenaries for Cavan County Council through the Creative Ireland Programme.
The historian, Margaret Mc Curtin was a primary motivator and inspiration for this exhibition, a joint initiative of the County Museum and the Arts Office. The exhibition is placed in the context of the role of women in securing greater equality including the right to vote, to be part of the paid workforce and to have a voice. The research is not a definitive collection of women who changed Irish life but rather a finger post to discover the stories of the remarkable women in the exhibition. The women featured in the exhibition have achieved excellence in their own fields including: arts and culture, education, science, business and social change. The aim of the exhibition is to promote the awareness of the viewer to acknowledge women in their own lives who continue to work for greater equality in their own field and in Irish society.
The women selected for this exhibition include: Edith Somerville, Letita Dunbar-Harrison, Iris Cummins, Teresa Deevy, Agnes O Farrelly, Majella Mc Carron, Sherie de Burgh, Rita Duffy and Derbhle Crotty. Laura Servilan Brown is the John and Pat Hume Scholar at the History Department, Maynooth University.
The exhibition opening included a short lecture by Catríona Crowe, historian. Lecture text here.
Catríona Crowe was formerly Head of Special Projects at The National Archives and a respected social commentator.
An extract from Fragments by Jessie Keenan, contemporary choreographer was performed to accompany the opening.
Additional Information
Laura Servilan Brown
The researcher Laura Servilan Brown is the John and Pat Hume Scholar at the History Department, Maynooth University.
“Fragments” by Jessie Keenan, contemporary choreographer
Fragments considers the imperfect and unstable nature of memory through an intricate and delicately nuanced dance work. This intimate dance experience invites the audience into a strange and beautiful world of detailed movement, architectural physical forms, fractured video, and shifting soundscapes. With this work, Keenan asks the question: what can we hold on to as our memories alter or even disappear completely?
Fragments has emerged from two years of research carried out by Keenan with scientists, dancers and family members inspired by childhood experiences of her grandfather’s dementia. This work premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2018 where it was nominated for Best Design in the Dublin Fringe Festival Awards.
Fragments is supported by Dublin City Council, Cavan County Council, Dance Ireland and Dublin Fringe Festival through the FRINGE LAB initiative. Developed with the support of Arts Council Ireland ‘Next Generation Bursary Award’ and presented as a work-in-progress at the Dublin Dance Festival 2018.
