The Refugee's Armour, a solo exhibition by Miriam McConnon
The Olivier Cornet Gallery is delighted to present Miriam McConnon's fifth solo exhibition with us.
In her new solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet gallery, Miriam McConnon presents the individual stories of young male refugees in paintings of personal objects that narrate their journey of displacement, of integration and of aspirations for the future. She brings a collective element to these individual experiences through the gesture of the exhibition. The work looks at the many layers to these stories, disenabling the categorization of ‘refugee’ to define these young men.
Over the past twenty years McConnon has consistently made work around objects that reveal a human story.
For this new body of work, she has conducted a series of interviews with several young men who have been displaced by war. Together they discussed themes of trauma, memory, safety, politics and the shared global responsibility for conflict. She recalls elements of their past stories and their hopes for their future through the display of objects that express the different layers of these narratives. Her work acts as an agency in which to give a voice to these young men’s experiences and that takes responsibility for the preservation of their personal stories.
In this exhibition ‘The Refugee’s Armour’, the viewer is presented with a series of paintings depicting a male suit jacket suspended from a wire. Each suit jacket bears decorative patterns that originate from personal objects related to the individual journey of displacement. These jackets represent each young male refugee’s armour or safety net against the issues they face in their attempt to establish a new life following conflict and war.
The exhibition also hosts a series of small works that present the more personal objects that these young men chose to carry with them on their journey. Each small painting is a testimony to the more intimate finer details of each narrative.
In the gallery space the installation ‘Armours’ is made up of five garments of clothing that belong to each of the young men whose stories of displacement have inspired the exhibition. They have been loaned to the artist for the exhibition. In some cases, the garments are those that these young men have travelled in to safety. Each piece of clothing is hung at the height of the man to whom it belongs. In doing so, the artist has created a space for the presence of these young men, for them to exist within the gallery in a way that is not symbolic or metaphorical but a true physical presence of their clothing with their sense of being without exposing the physical person themselves.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue prefaced by Dr Rachel Hoare, Director of The Centre for Forced Migration Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
A panel discussion will take place at The Olivier Cornet Gallery on the evening of September 28th 2023 (7pm to 8pm).
The purpose of the panel discussion is to create discussion around the responsibilities and complexities that artists face when exposing other people’s personal narratives in their work.
The three invited artists are Brian Maguire, Rajinder Singh and Miriam McConnon with artist Rachel Fallon as chair of the discussion. Each of these invited artists deals with the narratives of displacement and conflict in their work, giving a voice to the human story.
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Arts Council of Ireland and Fingal’s Arts Office.
In her new solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet gallery, Miriam McConnon presents the individual stories of young male refugees in paintings of personal objects that narrate their journey of displacement, of integration and of aspirations for the future. She brings a collective element to these individual experiences through the gesture of the exhibition. The work looks at the many layers to these stories, disenabling the categorization of ‘refugee’ to define these young men.
Over the past twenty years McConnon has consistently made work around objects that reveal a human story.
For this new body of work, she has conducted a series of interviews with several young men who have been displaced by war. Together they discussed themes of trauma, memory, safety, politics and the shared global responsibility for conflict. She recalls elements of their past stories and their hopes for their future through the display of objects that express the different layers of these narratives. Her work acts as an agency in which to give a voice to these young men’s experiences and that takes responsibility for the preservation of their personal stories.
In this exhibition ‘The Refugee’s Armour’, the viewer is presented with a series of paintings depicting a male suit jacket suspended from a wire. Each suit jacket bears decorative patterns that originate from personal objects related to the individual journey of displacement. These jackets represent each young male refugee’s armour or safety net against the issues they face in their attempt to establish a new life following conflict and war.
The exhibition also hosts a series of small works that present the more personal objects that these young men chose to carry with them on their journey. Each small painting is a testimony to the more intimate finer details of each narrative.
In the gallery space the installation ‘Armours’ is made up of five garments of clothing that belong to each of the young men whose stories of displacement have inspired the exhibition. They have been loaned to the artist for the exhibition. In some cases, the garments are those that these young men have travelled in to safety. Each piece of clothing is hung at the height of the man to whom it belongs. In doing so, the artist has created a space for the presence of these young men, for them to exist within the gallery in a way that is not symbolic or metaphorical but a true physical presence of their clothing with their sense of being without exposing the physical person themselves.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue prefaced by Dr Rachel Hoare, Director of The Centre for Forced Migration Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
A panel discussion will take place at The Olivier Cornet Gallery on the evening of September 28th 2023 (7pm to 8pm).
The purpose of the panel discussion is to create discussion around the responsibilities and complexities that artists face when exposing other people’s personal narratives in their work.
The three invited artists are Brian Maguire, Rajinder Singh and Miriam McConnon with artist Rachel Fallon as chair of the discussion. Each of these invited artists deals with the narratives of displacement and conflict in their work, giving a voice to the human story.
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Arts Council of Ireland and Fingal’s Arts Office.
