We are excited by this visit by Dr. Christina Henri from Australia, who will be giving a talk entitled 'Roses from the Heart Memorial Remembers Those Banished to the Ends of the Earth' about the 25,566 women who were sentenced to transportation to Australia between 1788 to 1853 from the then British Isles, some from Waterford.
Christina believes that many of these impoverished women were transported simply for being vagrants. When afforded opportunities in Tasmania or Australia the women's resilience and fortitude saw them flourish and contribute to the growth of the emerging nation. Since 2007 she has been working on 'Roses from the Heart', the first ever memorial to those women whose stories have remained untold for too long, which consists of cloth bonnets, copied from an original 1860's servant's bonnet, to symbolise their lives. Christina is interested in 304 women from Waterford who were transported, and she is inviting women from Waterford to take part, and her aim is to have a permanent memorial of bonnets in Waterford. In 2012 male and female prisoners from two of Dublin's prisons presented Christina with 800 bonnets. So far 22,000 bonnets have been received.
Dr. Christina Henri is Honorary Artist in Residence at the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Christina uses art as a tool to give meaning to history.
This is sure to be a very interesting talk and is not to be missed! All very welcome.
Venue: Green Room, Town Hall Theatre, Dungarvan
Date: Wednesday 15th March 2017
Time: 8pm
Admission: €5