“Objects, war and memory in Ireland past and present”

Most of us keep objects that remind us of loved ones or important moments in our
lives – a brooch belonging to a beloved grandmother, a GAA match programme, a
son or daughter’s favourite toy. Now, a new exhibition at Kilmainham Gaol Museum
showcases some of the precious things that refugees have brought with them to
Ireland, and the moving stories of courage, resilience, love and hope that these
objects have to tell.

They include a distinctive multi-coloured coat worn by Kateryna during the siege of
Mariupol in Ukraine: a glimpse of the coat caught on camera during the Red Cross
evacuation of the city told her family and friends that she had survived. Other items
include a Palestinian thobe (a traditional woman’s dress) embroidered by Wafa’a for
her mother, and a football cap kept by Heidar since 2007 when the Iraqi national
team won the Asian Cup – a year also marked by the worst civil war in Iraq’s modern
history. Alongside these are stories of objects from Kilmainham Gaol’s War of
Independence and Civil War collections, revealing resonances between the
contemporary experiences of refugees and experiences of war, oppression and loss
in Ireland’s recent past. 

The exhibition was co-created by Prof. Joanna Brück of UCD School of Archaeology
and seven people who have come to Ireland as refugees. It will be on view in
(opens in a new window)Kilmainham Gaol Museum until 31 st January 2026 and thereafter at public libraries
and community centres around Dublin.