Newry artist dedicates work to 796 Tuam babies

Newry artist creates memorial ceremony art for the 796 babies buried in Tuam.

Alison Rodgers is a maker and facilitator of creative healing workshops focusing on women’s issues specifically associated with mental health, trauma, the concepts of recovery and being a survivor. However, the news regarding the 796 deaths of babies at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway really "hit home" with Alison.

In 2014 Alison was driving home from university when she heard on the radio the harrowing news regarding Catherine Corless's findings on the 796 babies from a Tuam mother and baby home found buried in an underground septic tank. Like so many around the country this heart-breaking news resonated with Alison, and she found she was “filled with profound sadness, compassion and anger."

Rodgers said: "It really hit home. It brought up feelings I didn't know how to deal with and whenever I can't express anything I just start making or drawing something and then it eventually comes out of you.

"I didn't really sit down and think that I am going to make something for Tuam, it just sort of happened. I wanted to make something to show that they were loved and that there were cared for."

Over the period of two years Alison hand crafted 796 porcelain white roses, each rose dedicated in memory of each baby. Initially there was no "final destination" for the roses but when she did get them finished, she decided on a place for them.

Alison emailed Irish historian Catherine Coreless whose dedicated work is the reason we now know of the deaths of the children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. Alison had decided she wanted to have the roses placed on the Children's Burial Ground Memorial in Tuam.

“I initially didn't make them for any reason. “There wasn't a final destination for them but when I finished them, I emailed Catherine Coreless just to ask her permission if I could go down and lay them there as a mark of respect and just photograph them. That's all I really wanted to do. Although, the more I thought of it, I hoped it would raise awareness. I am a shy person, and I wouldn't be doing this if it had been any other art project but because it's for Tuam. There's still other places, such as the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home (Cork), where babies are not being accounted for, I felt compelled to do this."

The idea of the rose came to Alison from the ritual many of us have of leaving flowers on the grave of a loved one as a "mark of love, kindness and respect."

Alison said: "Whenever I was thinking about it, I was drawn to my own experiences of grief. “What are you left to do, you leave flowers at the grave and in some way, it is part of the healing process. To me it's a mark of love, kindness and respect. Since I am a ceramic artist, I thought I would make them in porcelain. The rose itself represents the babies’ mothers. Each petal is handmade and formed to lovingly cradle and protect her baby in the centre, connecting the two forever. The white porcelain captures the essence of the child’s innocence and purity and both the fragility and strength of their mothers. This instillation is called ‘Unearthing, Tuam blossoms. "

Alisons work was unveiled at a non-religious memorial ceremony that took place on Sunday (October 2) at the Children's Burial Ground Memorial in Tuam. There was also poetry said by Catherine Coreless and music by Anne Rynne. The service was also officiated by celebrant Christina Breen. Everyone that attended was asked to bring a memorial flower.

The roses were placed in 3ft lines in the memorial garden to symbolise the average size a coffin would be for a small baby.

"The chamber is about 8ft long, I chose the width 3ft out as that is the averages the size of a baby’s coffin, so I just wanted to mark that to give a sense of proportion to the size of the babies. The children ranged from different ages, babies as young as baby boy, Walsh ten minutes old, little Patrick one year one month old, to little Maud, six and a half years old, to the oldest little girl Kathleen, nine and a half years old. The two wee girls resonated with me because of my own two grand-daughters are at that age. I look at them and think to myself I can't comprehend the life that wee Maud and Kathleen must have led," Rodgers said.

Alison is so grateful to everyone who attended the ceremony and to Catherine Coreless for her dedicated work in working towards justice for the babies of Tuam.

“Thanks to the tireless fighting from Catherine, the survivors, and their families the babies of Tuam will finally receive a dignified and fitting resting place.

“Now my thoughts are not only with the babies and mothers of Tuam but also with the survivors of all these horrific institutions, as they wait for justice. I hope with continued support from like-minded people who seek fairness and justice, we can continue to put pressure on the church and state to do the right thing for survivors and families.”