Placing Voices, Voicing Places: The Monto Heritage Project
On September 3rd 2009 over one hundred people attended the launch of this multimedia exhibition, part of the Placing Voices, Voicing Places project funded by the Heritage Council to explore the meanings of heritage in a culturally diverse Ireland.
The project was jointly led by Pat Cooke, Alice Feldman and Tadhg O’Keefe of UCD, Cormac O’Donnell, Dublin City Council Office for Integration, and Sarah Tuck, Director of CREATE, the national agency for the collaborative arts. It brought together a team of artists and community activists to collaborate with local residents in exploring their sense of heritage as part of their daily lives. The participatory research activities in the Monto were led by Alice Feldman and Cormac O’Donnell and undertaken in partnership with the Terry Fagan of the Folklore Project and funded by the UCD Research Seed Funding Scheme and the Dublin City Council Integration Fund.
Joe Costello, TD; Alice Feldman (UCD School of Sociology), Lord Mayor of Dublin Emer Costello, Minister for Integration John Curran, TD;
Cormac O’Donnell (Dublin City Council Office for Integration), Terry Fagan (Folklore Project), and Councillor Christy Burke
This multi-media exhibition of stories and images reflected the lives and memories of seniors, youths and migrants in the area of Dublin known as ‘the Monto’ and drawing from:
- Oral history sessions with the seniors from the Lourdes Day Care Centre
- A participatory photography project with trainees at the North Centre City Community Action Project
- Heritage sessions at the Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre and local tours provided by the Folklore Project
- Digital stories created and produced by a mixed group of residents of the area in a 12 week workshop
This project went beneath the surface of ‘official’ heritage to give voice to what matters most to people in their everyday lives. Often, it is not the things people keep or the buildings in the area, but the people from these places and how they lived that are remembered and shared through anecdotes and stories.
Migrants are keen to learn about the history and heritage of the area and Ireland in general. They are equally keen to share the stories of where they come from, to point out the commonalities between their life experiences and Irish culture and values, and how they are combining them in their lives here.
The exhibition also included a selection of photographs taken by young people from the area. These photos convey something of their sense of alienation within a harsh urban environment and from the popular nostalgia of the past, but they tell new stories that reflect what will become the heritage of this generation.
Those from previous generations recall both hard times and struggle as well as the strength of personal and community spirit that sustained them – an ethos that is carried on today through community work by and for all of those living in the area, including those recently arrived.
A series of short, multi-media stories created by project participants were also be screened during this event.
Attendees enjoying the launch
Exerpts from Guest Speaker Presentations
Lord Mayor Emer Costello:
"It gives me great pride to see an exhibition like this…and I’m really really proud of the work that has been achieved and tremendously impressed by the exhibition that has been put on….
Really what makes any area and what makes the history and the culture and the traditions of any area is the people. And it is so important to record and capture the history of the people, because buildings come and go…but the culture and traditions and the values of the people who have lived here….they are the defining characteristics of an area….
And it’s very important because as we talk about the digital age, and we talk about texting, and we talk about children using the internet and children maybe losing sight of some of the old values, it’s wonderful to see us turning that on its head and now that we’re able to use the digital technologies to capture what was wonderful about the past and to use those technologies to record the values of the past and to impart them to generations to come…
And I just note from the exhibition how much people talk about the commonalities – even though there are many cultural differences…There is so much there that is common between all the various different cultures. And I suppose when we talk about integration, we talk about sharing what we have in common, sharing our commonalities while at the same time appreciating the differences…And through a project like this we can actually pass those types of values on."
Minister for Integration, John Curran
"Integration is about having a sense of belonging. The project has charted the changes in this area and shown how it has developed and changed. It’s helped participants get to know their area and be part of their community…
I’d particularly like to commend the different bodies which worked together to make this project happen – UCD, Dublin City Council, and Create, those who worked with local people to help them create their heritage, their identities, their multicultural city. This project provides an excellent example of how different bodies can come together, collaborate effectively, and utilize modern multimedia to document the experiences of newcomer and established communities and bring both communities together to create an understanding as well as a sense of a shared community."
Key Contributors to the Exhibit:
- Darcy Alexandra, Digital Storytelling Facilitator
- Michael Brown, Photographer
- Bernie Pierce, Lourdes Senior Day Care Centre
- Laura McDonnell, North Dublin City Centre Community Action Project
- Nadette Foley, Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre
- Also see http://www.placingvoices.com/ and www.ucd.ie/mcri
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