Heart and Hearth

Bog Cotton 

Bog road

Turf - Shrule

Bog road -Shrule

Bog Cotton - Shrule

Shrule

Beautiful bog cotton - Shrule

There's deep heart healing in the bog.

BREATH

BIRTH

EARTH

TURF

ASH 

SMOKE

SPIRE

BREATH 

BIRTH 

EARTH 

TURF

FLAME

FIRE

PYRE

BREATH

BIRTH

EARTH 

TURF

HEARTH

HEART

HOME

BREATH

BIRTH

EARTH 

TURF

HEARTH

is

HOME

Bookworms Children's Literature Festival Roscommon 2018

It's been a while since I did any school visits but was delighted to return to Roscommon for their annual Bookworms Children's Literature Festival and visited:

Gaelscoil de Hide,
Fuerty and Ballagh National Schools.

Thank you to the teachers for allowing me dive bomb their class rooms on a sweltering day and thank you to the children for their innate wisdom. I'm always astounded by the brilliance in our schools and always learn way more than I actually impart myself. There truly are some incredible minds out there and feel very lucky to have encountered so many great ideas and stories. 

Good luck to sixth class pupils as they move on to secondary school. 
Enjoy the summer holidays everyone. 

Sadie Xx

Happy House

Happy House

On the school bus everyday as a tiny girl, our daughter would pass this house and everyday an old man would stand at his front gate and wave to the children as they passed by. She never saw him anywhere else other than this setting and always waved back as it was part of her journey; part of her day. 

Then one day he disappeared, she can't remember it being significant but somehow she didn't wave anymore and he was no longer at his gate

Of course the old man has since passed away, yet his house remains un lived in and every summer there's a profusion of daisies spilling out of the garden onto the paths and surrounds. 
It just beams with happiness. 

From the heart - candlelight vigil Belfast City Hall

Such a beautiful and deeply emotional evening at Belfast City Hall. 
We heard extremely powerful testimony from three survivors and its potency lingers. 

Peter Mulryan, Rosaleen Rogers Sadie Cramer

goqradio 

We were blessed with an incredible sunny day and so the evening was perfectly dry for circling the building with lit candles (an idea from one of the security guards) 
Many thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to travel all that way  and contribute:

Belfast City Council for their kind generosity in allowing us to use City Hall
Paul who played the Uilleann pipes so movingly throughout
Eunan Duffy
Phil Scraton
Breeda Murphy
Nuala Flynn
Pauline Cunningham 
Val McNamara
Pete Mullins - such powerful contributions from everyone. Thank you. 

Below are some prep photos. I didn't take anymore once the event was in full swing as it never feels right to me but I'm sure some will start to surface in the following days. 

We had the option of setting up outside but it seemed more symbolic to create a site specific installation inside. In the heart of the building. At the heart of civic activity. Not on the fringes where survivors are always kept.   
                                            

Bog cotton, turf and candles to represent heart and hearth, all that's buried and the bog meadow babies in Belfast. There's deep healing in peat soil. 

More later. Sadie Xx

From the heart - Belfast City Hall

Entrance hall- Belfast City Hall 

Candles and bog cotton

#questfortruthjusticeredress #candlelightvigilbelfast #mothers

Home Baby

This is part of a larger body of work from the past two year's engagement with the Tuam Home Survivors and is fragments of testimony pieced together. A homage to their ongoing quest for justice. 
Please share widely Xx

#tuambabies #candlelightvigilbelfast #mothers 

"Rooftop Lullaby" - Jack Lukeman (aka Jack L)

May Morning Dew - Dolores Keane

Candlelight Vigil Belfast City Hall

                               

Beautiful bog cotton

Many thanks to the employees at Boston Scientific Galway who kindly donated and therefore paid for all of the candles. 

The lost children of Marian Vale - Radio 4 documentary

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3cw3m

File on 

The Lost Children of Marianvale

File on 4

During much of the 20th century unmarried women who became pregnant faced being condemned, stigmatised and shunned by their communities.

Across the Republic and Northern Ireland thousands of women and girlswere sent to mother and baby homes to give birth in secret and then gave their babies over for adoption.

For some women, the homes which were mostly run by the Catholic Church, provided sanctuary and a chance for them to rebuild their lives.

But others have claimed they were subjected to human rights abuses which culminated in seeing their babies taken from them and adopted out without their consent.

File on 4 investigates one such former institution in Northern Ireland - Marianvale in Newry - and hears concerns over the conditions and practices at the home which closed in 1984.

Now some of the children adopted from the home are in a race against time to find their birth mothers before they pass away. Some claim they face a trail of secrecy and obfuscation and there are growing calls for a public inquiry to provide answers about the extent of alleged forced adoption practices within Northern Ireland.

File on 4 asks whether enough is being done to provide answers for some women who went into Northern Ireland's mother and baby homes and for the babies they never saw again.

Reporter: Michael Buchanan
Producer: Ben Robinson

Editor: Gail Champion.ring much of the 20th century unmarried women who became pregnant faced being condemned, stigmatised and shunned by their communities. 

Across the Republic and Northern Ireland thousands of women and girlswere sent to mother and baby homes to give birth in secret and then gave their babies over for adoption. 

For some women, the homes which were mostly run by the Catholic Church, provided sanctuary and a chance for them to rebuild their lives. 

But others have claimed they were subjected to human rights abuses which culminated in seeing their babies taken from them and adopted out without their consent. 

File on 4 investigates one such former institution in Northern Ireland - Marianvale in Newry - and hears concerns over the conditions and practices at the home which closed in 1984. 

Now some of the children adopted from the home are in a race against time to find their birth mothers before they pass away. Some claim they face a trail of secrecy and obfuscation and there are growing calls for a public inquiry to provide answers about the extent of alleged forced adoption practices within Northern Ireland.

File on 4 asks whether enough is being done to provide answers for some women who went into Northern Ireland's mother and baby homes and for the babies they never saw again. 

Reporter: Michael Buchanan
Producer: Ben Robinson
Editor: Gail Champion.

Candlelight Vigil Belfast City Hall

A candlelight vigil will take place at Belfast City Hall on Tuesday May 29th to remember and recognize those who spent time in the Mother and Baby Institutions and Magdalene laundries throughout Ireland. The evening will culminate with music and contributions by guest speakers.

Not only is the vigil a memorial for the deceased but it is a manifestation of support for ‘Survivors’ in their quest for justice and recognition be it for their incarceration, forced adoption, abuses suffered during childbirth or ill treatment when eventually fostered out. This collaborative event organised by artist Sadie Cramer with Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice Northern Ireland, recognizes the difficulties encountered in accessing birth and medical records and the broader questions surrounding illegal adoptions and vaccination trials. 

All welcome to this free event. 

Please join us from 7.30pm for refreshments.

For further information contact:

Sadie Cramer  00 353 87 2940458                 sadieandmark@eircom.net

Eunan Duffy   077 18645924            

Birth Mothers and their children for Justice Northern Ireland

birthmothersforjustice.n.i@hotmail.com