Stay with Me Art Show

*Sensitive Content: Mother & Baby Homes*

The Stay With Me group art show is an artists’ response to the story of the Tuam Babies, which was first exposed by Journalist Alison O’Reilly in the national media on 25th May 2014.

The headline “800 Babies in a Mass Grave” sent shockwaves around the world, when it was first revealed “illegitimate” children were buried in a septic tank in the west of Ireland.

Their unmarried mothers were incarcerated in a religious run institution operated by the Bons Scours nuns, at the request of Galway County Council between 1925 to 1961.

When the nuns moved out of Tuam, they went to great lengths and costs to exhume their dead colleagues and re-inter them in Knock.

However, they left 796 innocent children behind in a defunct sewage system, where they remain today.

We never would have known about this story, only for the meticulous work of Historian Catherine Corless and Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers died in the Tuam home.

Horrified, distressed and in disbelief, people around the world reacted to the story in many ways, a sea of protests, marches and vigils got underway, while others turned to art.

In June 2018, Alison Lowry, a Glass Sculpturer from Saintfield in Northern Ireland, reacted to the story with an exhibition called “Home Babies”.

Her work was astonishing, she had created babies’ dresses from crushed glass, in response to the mother and baby home scandals.

Her full art show “(A)Dressing Our Hidden Truths” is now displayed in Collins Barracks in Dublin. (A photo essay by Alison Lowry on this exhibition can be viewed here).

Shortly after speaking with Alison, we began to look for other artists who may have created art pieces with the same theme.

Sure enough, one by one we found a mass of unsung talent who had created everything from installations, to poetry, paintings, graphics, ceramics, and paper art to honour the children who died.

Greystones artist Barbara O’Meara curated the design of four large white baby blankets, with 800 squares, and they were pieced together by the Stitched With Love Community. Each square represents each child who died in Tuam.

While Veronica Buchannan from Donegal created the delicate “With The Angels” – a large white dress made from 796 tiny angel cherubs mixed with lace.

Catherine McGagh from Leitrim has donated two paintings to our show, “Still Waiting” and “Exhumation of Hearts”.

And Marine Sterck from Belgium along with several friends made the “Defenceless Chalice”, for the 796 babies buried in Tuam – this chalice is a stark reminder of the reality of the children’s final resting place.

Sasha Quinn is a student in NCAD and is one of our youngest artists, and she created "Mothering Nest" from porcelain as well as "Mourners Lament".

"Working Through" is a series of endless white paper dresses, by Jill Dinsdale, which she displayed in Bessborough at one of the children's commemoration events, before kindly loaning it to us for our show in UCC, as well as our virtual show in 2020.

We knew these precious and delicate artworks had to be exhibited somewhere under one roof.

We sought out a number of art galleries in Dublin in the hope that someone would host the show and found the very talented Irish Italian Curator Dino Notaro who was immediately touched by the story.

For months, he helped create an art show that paid a tribute to the children who died in such appalling conditions.

The Stay With Me art show was born from a place of grief and sadness, but all of us on the team, have learned how important art is, and how it can help heal.

We have connected with some of the most talented artists, poets and musicians throughout our journey.
Artist Rachael Keogh donated “Mother of Pearl” to the first exhibition in the Inspire Galerie, which continues to tour with the show.

In her painting, she has given "every baby a cloud and a pearl nappy" and said "I wanted them to feel loved and safe, it's a hopeful piece".

However, having become so moved by the show itself, Rachael has taken on the role of Producer, and manages all of the new artists and musicians.

She is producing videos and interviews as well as researching new ways to showcase the work on several multi-media platforms.

Rachael said: “The work is so moving, its a show everyone needs to see. It is so gentle and speaks volumes. The survivors and families of the children who died take great comfort in it. I have been going through each piece and familiarising myself not just with this powerful art, but also with the artists themselves and the musicians. You cannot help but be moved by these artworks”.

Lisa Gernon is our Social Media Manager, who oversees several of our pages and coordinates the adverts to keep our viewers and followers updated on our weekly YouTube stories which are streamed on our Stay With Me Art Show YouTube Channel.

Frankie King is our Music Producer, but also provides us with technical support and has designed several of the powerful graphics with the names of the children who died in Sean Ross Abbey, Castlepollard and Bessborough.

Our mission is to honour all of the children who died in these institutions.

The story began with 796 infants left in a mass grave in Tuam.

Sadly, we have learned from the recent publication of the final report into mother and baby homes, that 9,000 angels are believed to have died all over the country during this shameful era in Irish history.

And they too, are missing.

Art brings people together and our show is a deeply thought-provoking group exhibition.
It has touched so many people and we are extremely grateful to our wonderful artists, because without them, we wouldn’t have a show.

With the artists in the Inspire Gallery January 2019

We work on a completely voluntary basis, this production is a labour of love project, which began as a hugely successful physical show in the Inspire Gallery in Dublin.

It was then invited to the Kolo Women’s International Festival in Sarajevo where it was embraced by dozens of survivors of the Bosnian War.

In August 2019 we had a hugely successful physical show in UCC as well as a live Q & A with Catherine Corless, whose tireless work, exposed the horror of the Tuam Babies story.

Stay With Me team at the Virtual Show July 2020

In July 2020, we held a stunning virtual show in the Conference Powered Studios on the Long Mile Road.

This year, we have the honour of collaborating with Herstory, and Brigid’s Healing Light, which will be incorporated into our new virtual show to be streamed online on 5th February 2021.

For me, as Director of the show, I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such a talented team of people, and our show continues to grow, we have now more than 40 artists.

I didn’t know, when I first exposed the story of the Tuam Babies Burial scandal in May 2014 in my role as journalist, that I would find myself curating and directing an art show.

But my love for the story of the children who died in the most shameful period of Irish history, has brought me on many journeys and it is a story that I will never let go of it.

I am very proud that along with Catherine Corless and Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers died in the Tuam home, we exposed the Tuam Babies story in 2014 which lifted the lid on this movement for justice.

Having written for years about child protection, illegal adoptions and mother and baby homes, it was no shock to be told that deep wrongs were inflicted on vulnerable women and children by the Irish church and state.

Luke Norton "Angels of Tuam" (this dress is made out of the 796 children's death certs from Tuam)

But when Anna Corrigan contacted me in 2014 to say 800 babies were lying in a septic tank in the west of the country, it was very hard to take in.

However, when the simple, basic facts were laid out for me by an ordinary decent woman after I answered her email - it became clear that this claim could not be dismissed as an exaggeration or mere rumour.

Anna Corrigan had no qualifications in historical discoveries, she didn’t have a team of people around her, and relied solely on her own material.

Instead, she was sitting at her kitchen table in Clondalkin, south Dublin solely piecing together the mystery of her mother Bridget Dolan’s secret life in the Tuam Home in Galway where she gave birth to two boys, John and William Dolan.

At the same time and unknown to me, another ordinary decent woman, was sitting at her kitchen table in Galway working on her research.

But between Anna Corrigan and Catherine Corless - neither of whom were backed by a government agency or academic funding - have managed to bring dignity to hundreds of forgotten children, rattled the nation to the core.

“800 Babies In a Mass Grave” was placed on the front of a national newspaper.

A shocking but powerful headline that, I thought, would lead to a huge outcry.

But very few mentioned it and it went unremarked upon in the Dail.

A week later, though, the Mailonline published my story and nothing prepared me for what was about to happen.

A frenzy exploded on social media, and every global media organisation ran the story - Sky News, CNN, NPR, Al Jazeera, CBS, plus dozens of other TV stations.
Over the next six weeks, I barely got any sleep as myself, Catherine and Anna did interview after interview with media organisations all over the world about the story of the Tuam Babies.

Only then did the Government respond.

The reality is that if the international media had not reacted to the Tuam Babies story, it would have been brushed under the carpet by the State.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother-and-Baby Homes was established by then-minister James Reilly in early 2015 as a result.

For years adoption rights campaigners highlighted theirs and their mother's mistreatment in the homes as well as their battles to obtain their records.

But it was Catherine Corless’ meticulous work, and the quality of her research that sparked this movement around the world.

This was the story that lifted the lid on the entire scandal and opened the floodgates.

For me, this story began in 2014 with the revelation that 796 children had died in the worst circumstances imaginable, however, in 2021, we are no further to finding those children.

The report floored me, when I learned that the Commission has discovered up to 9,000 children have died all over the country in institutions - and they too are missing. Therefore, the story is not over, and the search continues.

No stone should be left unturned until every effort is made to find Ireland’s lost children, who were treated so cruelly in their short lives where they did not wrong to anyone.

And the perpetrators who tortured these women and children in the “name of god”, need to be brought to justice.

When the apology was issued by the Taoiseach following the publication of the final report into mother and baby homes – my thoughts were with Catherine Corless and Anna Corrigan for the roles they played in bringing this story to the world’s attention and the survivors and families of the children who died.

But my heart is with the 9,000 forgotten children who died from abuse and neglect, they are the heroes of this story and they have to be found.

And the purpose of our beautiful "Stay With Me" art show is to honour those children.

Join us for our new virtual show “Stay With Me – Believe” which will be streamed at 8pm on Friday 5th February 2021 on:

YouTube: Stay With Me Art Show

Facebook: Remembering the Tuam Babies

Instagram: stay_with_me_art

You can view a showreel of recent shows here, and the recent virtual show here.

Alison O'Reilly Journalist & Author My Name is Bridget

Alison O’Reilly Journalist and Author “My Name is Bridget, the untold story of Bridget Dolan and the Tuam mother and baby home”.