Petals of Hope

Overview

A 3 -phase community art project (1998, 2013 & 2018). The only longitudinal community art project of its kind. Unique, because the artwork was made directly by the hands of the community who were impacted by atrocity (not on their behalf) and because the 3 phases spanned a 20year period.

Phase 1: Artist, Carole Kane,  initiated and organised workshops during the immediate aftermath of the bomb in Omagh in 1998. This cross-community work involved 150+ people from Primary, Secondary and Grammar Schools together with volunteers from the public and was carried out for Omagh District Council. The result was a series of pictures created from hand-made paper that included the flowers which were left in the town by the wider compassionate community in the immediate days following the bomb. Work formed an extended, touring exhibition (due to public interest) and a book called “Petals of Hope”(1999). Pictures were given to each of the families and large pieces made for each town affected. The collective exhibition was seen in Omagh, Buncrana, Belfast, Dublin, Newcastle and Madrid.

Transparencies of the images from the book formed another exhibition of the same name which was shown in Warrington and later on in Omagh at the tenth anniversary of the bomb in 2008.

Phase 2: Carol Kane retuned for the 15th anniversary with Malachi O’Doherty to collect written and digital stories or reflections of the initial creative process and what we could learn from that; created a small book as well as the digital stories. About 35 people were involved in this process including some of family members of the victims.

Phase 3: Carol Kane returned for the 20th anniversary, this time working with Daryl Simpson and the Omagh Community Youth Choir. Created an exhibition called “Seeds of Hope” with a further 150+ people, many of which were the second generation of participants from the 1st phase. Daryl also wrote a piece of music for the anniversary service, where the artpieces created in the exhibition were distributed to attendees.

For each phase and collectively: this was a highly significant piece of work. Phase 1 was particularly intensely sensitive and incredibly moving. It was cathartic and healing for those who participated and came to see the work. With the support of Omagh District Council (who were an amazing support at the time), I set out to facilitate a short series of paper-making workshops, but had no idea how the project would develop in the early days or throughout the following years. Step by step, we responded to each stage of the process and let the public lead the way. The artwork created sacred spaces for reflection, with people returning to spend time sitting with the work to think. cry, pray, and just be. It was given to the bereaved families as a touchstone of the compassion and love felt by the wider community.

Phase 2 was a reflective process filled with voice, words, expression.

Phase 3 has a narrower base and reached out to a younger generation fully aware of how this tragic event had placed a scar on their community and town. The sense of hurt was still tangible and echoed through out this process. The artist’s aims were to relax some of this tension by loosening control in order to pick up and give ease: “This was a phenomenal experience and immense privilege to work on as an artist. It shaped my creative and professional pathway and the learning was much more than I could articulate in this space”.

Lead creatives

Carole Kane, 1998, 2013, & 2018
Wider sympathetic and compassionate community, 1998
Community in Omagh and outlying areas, 1998, 2013 & 2018
Malachi O’Doherty, 2013
Daryl Simpson, 2018

Collaborating organisations

Omagh District Council, 1998
Omagh District Council, 2013
Omagh Library Service, 2013
Victims and Survivors Service, 2013
Malachi O’Doherty, Journalist, 2013
Omagh and Fermanagh Council, 2018
Department of Foreign Affairs, 2018
Omagh Self Help and Survivors Group, 2018
Omagh Library Service, 2018
Omagh Community Youth Choir, 2018
Daryl Simpson, 2018

Participating or target groups

Cross Community,Victims and Survivors

Funders

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) |Local Council Funding |Victims and Survivors Service (VSS)

Key peace-related issues

Healing, silence, holding, lament, reshaping, loss and loving.

Commemoration and Remembrance

Talk presented in October 2014 at the HOLYWELL – DiverseCity Community Partnership, Derry- Londonderry