The Refugee's Armour, Miriam McConnon's new solo show at OCG

"...In her new solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet gallery, Miriam McConnon presents the individual stories of young male refugees in paintings of personal objects that narrate their journey of displacement, of integration and of aspirations for the future. She brings a collective element to these individual experiences through the gesture of the exhibition. The work looks at the many layers to these stories, disenabling the categorization of ‘refugee’ to define these young men. 

Over the past twenty years McConnon has consistently made work around objects that reveal a human story. For this new body of work, she has conducted a series of interviews with several young men who have been displaced by war. Together they discussed themes of trauma, memory, safety, politics and the shared global responsibility for conflict. She recalls elements of their past stories and their hopes for their future through the display of objects that express the different layers of these narratives. Her work acts as an agency in which to give a voice to these young men’s experiences and that takes responsibility for the preservation of their personal stories..."

The Olivier Cornet Gallery is delighted to present Miriam McConnon's show The Refugee's Armour, the artist's 5th solo exhibition with us.

Official opening: Sunday 24 September 2023, 4:00pm. 

Olivier Cornet Gallery, 3 Great Denmark Street, Dublin

Guest speaker: Film-director Frank Berry

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue prefaced by Dr Rachel Hoare, Director of The Centre for Forced Migration Studies, Trinity College Dublin. 

A panel discussion will take place at the gallery on the 28 September (7pm to 8pm) with artists Brian Maguire, Rajinder Singh, Rachel Fallon and Miriam McConnon. The discussion will focus on the complexities of making artwork around the personal human narrative.

Please note that the Centre for Forced Migration Studies has invited the artist to talk about her body of work ahead of her exhibition at our gallery. This event will take place on Culture Night, Friday 22 September 2023. All details here. Please also note that the show here at the gallery will be available to preview as part of our Culture Night event.

Please click on the image to access the exhibition page of this show and read the artist's full statement and view images of the work.

Image: 'Childhood in Camps - Khaled's Story', oil on canvas, 50x50cm