What does it mean to know?

Magdalene Laundries were once vast islands of abandonment marking our Irish social landscape. They are closed now, but their legacies linger. When the gates were locked for the last time in 1996, it was with a whimper not a bang. The secrets were sealed off, and the nation moved on, or so it seemed. But this recent past has come back to haunt the present. In response, there has been handwringing, questioning, asking who-knew-whats and the lamenting if-only-we’d-knowns. Reflecting on this historical reckoning, the author John Banville wrote a short article in the New York Times that suggested a vital question remained unexamined: 

“Never tell, never acknowledge, that was the unspoken watchword. Everyone knew, but no one said. Amid all the reaction to these terrible revelations, I have heard no one address the question of what it means, in this context, to know”. 

We took this as our prompt, but we wanted to re-orientate the perspective of the question from the past to the present: what it is we know, and do not know, about this history today? The LAB Gallery presents What does it mean to know? a new exhibition by Irish artists Ethna Rose O’Regan and Sinéad McCann (working in collaboration with writer and sociologist Louise Brangan).

 McCann and Brangan’s unique collaboration comprises two new artworks: ‘NO BABIES WERE BORN THERE.’, a large scale sculptural text work, and ‘I’m still there’, a light and sound installation. We do not present the Laundries as some kind of historically sequestered event that took place far away, back then, and over there. Instead, both works invite people to consider some of the narrative and statistical fictions that guide how we make sense of the Laundries today. We invite the viewer to reflect upon the question: What does it mean to remember?

 O’Regan’s photographic series, ‘After Magdalene’ (2006-2009), was made in the last of the Magdalene Laundries on Sean McDermott Street, which officially closed in 1996. O’Regan first gained access in 2006. The sense of despair and isolation which was palpable everywhere, seemed to permeate the very wallpaper and floorboards of this building. Her images of the remnants and detritus that were left behind, evoke a feeling of an indescribable sadness of so many lives disavowed. With this work, she wishes to create a space for reflection and urge people to never forget our past so that this abuse of power towards Irish women will never happen again

The opening night will take place on Thursday 12th June, 6pm - 8pm. 

Just to note: 

Dublin City Council are aware of the sensitivities of this exhibition and its connection to the Magdalene Laundries. The historical suffering of those who worked in laundries has been well documented and is the subject of programmes of recovery and redress.

During this exhibition at The Lab, the artists involved and Dublin City Council staff at the Lab will be sensitive to and supportive of any patron who may find the exhibit or experience distressing in any way.