Thursday, 28 March 2024

Event Details

The three-piece installation of Chilean arpilleras from Conflict Textiles collection on display
at the Ulster Museum. (Photo: Karen Logan)

The three-piece installation of Chilean arpilleras from Conflict Textiles collection on display at the Ulster Museum. (Photo: Karen Logan)

 

Rotating exhibition:The Troubles and Beyond
Description: The history of Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards has been dominated by the civil and political conflict commonly referred to as ‘the Troubles’. The traumatic events of the years after 1968 touched almost everyone who lived here and many others from further afield. Inevitably, the interpretation of these events is contested in terms of their significance, meaning, and responsibility. While we have a shared past, we do not have a shared memory.

"The Troubles and Beyond" exhibition at the Ulster Museum seeks to provide a platform for conversation and debate about our recent past. It explores politics and conflict and the impact of both on everyday life, people and communities. It also examines the important social, economic, and cultural changes that were taking place here and around the world. It powerfully examines our recent past through a remarkable range of objects reflecting diverse perspectives and experiences.

Textiles from the international Conflict Textiles collection are an integral element within the "The Troubles and Beyond" exhibition and are rotated on an annual basis. This collaboration commenced with an Arpillera Doll Making Workshop in 2017 and has since led to the creative exchange of objects and ideas.

The current three-piece installation of Chilean arpilleras spans more than 45 years of Chilean resistance, primarily from the perspective of grassroots people. From the mothers in the 1970s stitching memories of happier times with family members and relatives who were disappeared by the Pinochet regime, to the student movement demanding reform of the neoliberal policies of the Piñera government in 2011 – a theme which recurs in the 2019 demonstrations sparked by the metro fare hike - we see repression, denouncement and demands for a transformation of the existing order.

This exhibition was temporarily replaced by a four piece exhibition Transformative Memory International Network 2022 MemoLab: Northern Ireland (18 October-6 November 2022) as part of an overall programme of MemoLab events within Northern Ireland.

Details of the inaugural and subsequent exhibitions are available at The Troubles and Beyond 30 March 2018 – 30 March 2019.
Commissioned by: Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date(s): 28th June 2022 - 8th February 2023
Venue: Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT9 5AB, Northern Ireland
Curator: Karen Logan
Facilitator: Roberta Bacic and Karen Logan
Outcome:




Documents: • List of textiles and display image, June 2022 - view
• Narrative text for installation, June 2022 - view