Look Back to Look Forward: 50 years of the Irish in Britain will be hosted in Belfast by Queen’s University as part of its Fleadh Cheoil na héireann Fringe programme.
The Fleadh Cheoil na héireann is being held in Belfast for the very first time and thousands of visitors are expected in the city for the event.
Drawing on emotive oral histories, archival material, photography, film, and audio recordings, it documents people’s different experiences of leaving home behind, of setting up life in a new place, community activism, work, and cultural identity.
Well-known faces
Several well-known faces have contributed to the exhibition, including actors Adrian Dunbar, Ardal O’Hanlon, and Jamie Beamish, who read moving excerpts from transcripts of interviews with Irish labourers who lived in Arlington House in London in the 90s.
Other well-known names featured include actors and presenters Siobhán McSweeney and Aisling Bea, broadcaster Terry Christian, Siobhan Fahy from Bananarama and Shakespears Sister, musician Jah Wobble, and poet Laurie Bolger, who wrote a specially commissioned poem inspired by the project.
The exhibition has been seen by over 120,000 visitors at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum and toured across major cities in Britain.
The stories within the exhibition are as inspirational as they are heart-breaking and capture a breadth of lived experience rarely brought together in one place.
Open every day from 11am-4pm
The exhibition was made possible thanks to generous funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
For a taste of the histories we recorded check out our online Exhibition
Full details of all the events hosted by Queen's during the Fleadh HERE.