By Claire Corrigan
A host of well-known faces took part in the launch of the Herstory movement by Mullingar’s Melanie Lynch at The Pillar Room, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin last week, with many well known academics and artistes in attendance.
The Herstory campaign, which aims to tell the forgotten biographies of pioneering Irish women through mediums such as music, comedy, fashion and photography, was started by Melanie and inspired by the discovery that children in Mullingar knew nothing of famous locally-born writer, theatrical producer, TV presenter and poetry lover, Josephine Hart, who founded Gallery Poets and West End Poetry Hour and inspired the Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation.
Talking to Westmeath Topic, Melanie said that the feedback from the Dublin launch had been really positive. “There was a real excitement afterwards and everyone really got a real feeling of what it’s about and the variety involved.”
Josephine Hart was the major inspiration for the new movement which has made it through to the final round of the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Elevator Programme.
Melanie Lynch explained: “When we were working on the Heart of Ireland Festival in March 2015, we invited Eleanor Carter, Director of the Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation, to come to Mullingar to facilitate poetry therapy workshops with the local schools. We were surprised and saddened to learn that none of the local children had ever heard of Josephine. They knew all about the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus, but nothing at all about our local heroine. We felt that these little people could do with a mesmerising, genuine role model like Josephine Hart.
My grandmother told me about Josephine when I was a teenager growing up in Mullingar – grandmothers want the right role models for their granddaughters!”
In November 2015, Josephine’s childhood home at Friars Mill Road, Mullingar was allowed to be demolished and became part of a public car park, making negative headlines both nationally and internationally. “The local government has done nothing to commemorate Josephine locally, and her huge contribution to the arts world. To our utter shock and amazement, we witnessed an extraordinary Irish woman being bulldozed out of history in 2015.”
Melanie continued, “At the same time, a friend introduced me to the Wild Irish Women book (by Marian Broderick). Of the 75 women named in the book, I recognised five. I thought to myself, ‘Perhaps there are more.’ I met with local historian Ruth Illingworth and she named another 100 women on the spot. Shocked and angry but inspired, I kept digging.”
The stunning surroundings in the Rotunda’s Pillar Room was an ideal launch pad for the Herstory movement, and the contributors included an array of well-known academics and artistes including Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Maria Fleming from WakingTheFeminists, Dr. Jennifer Redmond, Tara Flynn, Patrick Carton, Amy De Bhrún, John Ennis, Landless and the Smock Alley Theatre Collective.
The organisers have devised a three-year strategy to build Herstory into an international movement and the project will culminate in a programme of performances, exhibitions and talks nationally in 2016 and 2017, touring internationally with the Irish diaspora in 2018.
In partnership with Smock Alley Theatre, Herstory is staging immersive theatrical banquets in celebration of Peg Woffington’s 296th birthday from 17th – 19th October, 2016. To donate you can visit Fundit.ie and type in Herstory.
