AkiDwA Founder Salome Mbugua & Herstory Founder Melanie Lynch by Szabolcs Karikó
Herstory introduces Movement
A new international education and arts project exploring the fact that emigration and immigration are two sides of the same story.
Movement presents a series of parallel life stories of emigrants and immigrants connected by common narrative themes. The project highlights our shared humanity and the interconnectedness of people beyond nationality, ethnicity and religion, whilst spotlighting the discriminations and double standards faced by immigrants and emigrants.
A NEW ERA : UNITY IN DIVERSITY
The objective is to deconstruct the polarising rhetorics that define this era and co-create a new future inspired by the fundamental fact: We are One Humanity. The pandemic is a reminder that borders and nationalities are fabrications that conceal our common humanity.
Sally Mulready and Margaret Stephen by Anna Matykiewicz
INCLUSION IN EDUCATION
On International Women’s Day, 8th March 2021, phase 1 launched with a series of parallel stories, a student art competition and school workshops to foster diversity and inclusion in secondary schools.
Read the parallel stories of emigrants and immigrants
Download the interactive school workshops
Discover the inspiration behind Movement on RTÉ Culture
Kalpana Chawla, by Orla Dunne, Winner of the School Art Competition. Kalpana was an astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.
MOVEMENT II
On 21st May 2021 - International Day of Cultural Diversity - phase two launched with an international exhibition of portraits and parallel life stories; landmark light show in Dublin and Belfast, Melting Pot events; and the Parallel Peace Project with the Jerusalem Centre for Women and schools in Northern Ireland and Palestine.
Movement Online Exhibition
Visit the Movement exhibition here.
A small selection of some of the diverse visual art created for the Movement project
In 2020, the Herstory Education Trust and partners commissioned established and student artists to create portraits of the women featured in the Movement project in order to bring their experiences to life. Between the women portrayed in the parallel portraits, and the artists behind the work, 20+ countries have been represented through this exhibition, resulting in 22 unique pieces of art which are all on display and available to view now for free here.
Parallel Peace Project
FROM THE HEART OF BELFAST TO THE HEART OF JERUSALEM
Since November 2020, the Herstory Education Trust has collaborated with the Jerusalem Centre for Women to co-create Movement and the Parallel Peace Project. In a time of heightened conflict, in areas besieged by violence, the project turned attention to peace building and the hope of resolution, by platforming and facilitating voices both currently affected by conflict and Northern Irish voices who have taken part in peace building during the Troubles.
““Diversity is having a seat at the table,
inclusion is having a voice,
belonging is having that voice heard.””
This new Herstory project is produced in partnership with AkiDwA (Ireland) and members of the Anna Lindh Foundation across the Euro-Mediterranean region: Jerusalem Centre for Women (Palestine), APIS Institute (Slovenia), Charisma Arts for Development (Egypt), and Agency for Migration and Adaptation AMIGA (Czech Republic). Movement celebrates the 20th anniversary of AkiDwA, Ireland’s first national women’s migrant service.
MOVEMENT III
In the future, Phase III of the Movement project will feature a documentary TV series and touring schools exhibition.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND MOVEMENT
““As a teenager I got a glimpse of the potential for a thriving multicultural Ireland. At Wilson’s Hospital School, students from six continents attended this progressive school perched on a hilltop in the middle of rural Ireland. Every week the postbox filled with letters and parcels from 29 countries around the world. From China to Mexico, we were all outsiders, even the Irish. As a Catholic I was an outsider in a Protestant school and the Protestants are a minority in the south. In this melting pot environment the question: “Where are you from?” was never racist. Our curiosity and respect for other faiths and cultures was genuine. Difference was celebrated.
I emigrated to the UK for university where a tutor sparked my interest with his infectious passion for African-American music and its influence on the civil rights movement. During Obama’s historic presidential campaign I penned my degree thesis on deconstructing colonial ideologies and racial stereotyping. Now, twelve years later, the creative realisation of that research is Herstory’s new Movement project.””
Ireland has one of the greatest diasporas in the world with 70 million people cherishing their Irish roots worldwide. However, the Irish migration story is marked by successes and struggles. We know only too well what it feels like to be excluded, stereotyped and discriminated against.
““We are a vibrant first world country but we have a humbling third world memory.” ”
In these divisive times it’s easy to forget that immigration and emigration are two sides of the same story. The heroines of the RTÉ Herstory TV series and Blazing A Trail exhibition had to emigrate to realise their potential. Ireland couldn’t offer the opportunities at the time. Many were refugees, forced to emigrate and escape poverty in Ireland.It’s only right that we open our doors and our hearts to the New Irish and offer them the opportunities our ancestors received around the world. If Ireland has the greatest diaspora we should be the most compassionate, inclusive country.
Peace Heroines is a Herstory Education Trust project created in collaboration with our partners and funders:
The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of Herstory and does not necessarily reflect the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation or the European Union. www.annalindhfoundation.org
Copyright Herstory 2021