‘Making the invisible, visible: creative arts for advocacy’ showcases incredible artwork from brain injury survivors in Wexford. President Connolly stated the art exhibition is “both a cause for reflection and a call to action”.

Before being invited to speak at the official opening, President Connolly was brought through each of the six exhibitions by our community and case manager for Wexford, Natasha Sinnott. President Connolly spoke to each of the artists and facilitators behind the pieces, hearing their stories and how creative arts helped them to adapt to their new reality.

Working through sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, participants used the creative arts to draw on lived experience, memory, and emotion. The exhibition features pottery, a collective mosaic, poetry, music, tactile and scent installation, and photography. Each of these exhibits showcases the importance of creative arts in brain injury rehabilitation and explores the invisible aspects of a brain injury.

President Connolly praised the exhibition theme ‘Making the invisible, visible’ as “absolutely powerful” and said the exhibition gave her “food for thought”:

During her speech, President Connolly said rehabilitation “enables and empowers people to rebuild their life, regain independence and to live life to their full potential”

Over the past 20 years, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland has strongly advocated for equal access to rehabilitation for every brain injury survivor living in Ireland. Currently, access to essential rehabilitation services depends on your age and where you live. This exhibition serves as a reminder of the importance of rehabilitation after a brain injury, focusing on the power of creative arts as a rehabilitative tool.

As part of the exhibition, our Wexford clubhouse member, Irene Delaney read a poem she composed as part of the project, with the guidance of writer and poet Eithne Hand. This poem explores Irene’s experience of her first seizure, which she suffered while driving. Her poem was incredible moving.

Our CEO, Dr. Karen Foley commended each of the artists for producing powerful artwork that tells their individual stories.

“Hope for a future that you may not know is there or you may not know is possible but always hope. We witness individuals who once felt that their world shrank suddenly, witness them take on new ways to connect and communicate. We see their confidence return, we see friendships form, and we see people taking risks, trying something new, something they never thought they would try or be any good at or that they would enjoy. And they realise I can do this and it opens a door to a new future.”

At the official opening, our director of research and policy Grainne McGettrick spoke about how this pilot project came about:

“As part of a fellowship in Trinity, I had the opportunity to apply for a grant to fund this project and was successful and my deepest gratitude to the funders, the Alzheimer’s Association of the USA, the Alzheimer’s Society in the UK and the Global Brain Health Institute for their trust in me and our organisation to deliver.”

You can find out more about the pilot creative arts and advocacy project here.

To close the evening, our Wexford clubhouse member, Denise Lawler presented President Connolly with a beautiful piece of artwork. There was then a two-song performance by Wexford’s Stagefright, an acappella group made up of local women. Led by conductor Ruth Gallagher, one of the art facilitators on the project, the vocal group sang a moving version of Extreme’s More Than Words and the joyful Downtown by Petula Clark.

We would like to thank President Connolly for officially opening our exhibition. We would also like to say a huge well done to each of the amazing artists, facilitators and team members at our Wexford clubhouse for creating such incredible artwork!

This art exhibition is open at Green Acres art gallery, Wexford until 29 March and we encourage you to drop in if you are nearby.