Hundreds of people gathered in Front Square in the dark last night to see the walls of House 2 and House 3 become canvases for a series of projections depicting inspirational female changemakers. The installations, entitled “STUDENT POWER”, marked the start of the 2022 Herstory Brigid’s Day festival by the Dublin City Council.
Founded by Melanie Lynch, the Herstory movement seeks to deconstruct gender stereotypes by providing the stories of women with a platform. According to its manifesto, the project aspires to “give the public authentic female role models and a game-changing egalitarian education programme, inspiring countries around the world to start their own Herstory movements”.
To celebrate St Brigid’s Day 2022, Herstory partnered with the Irish Second Level Students’ Union to celebrate female student activists. Trinity was one of several landmarks across the country illuminated by graphics of women who have contributed to Irish society and culture. This year’s festival is particularly significant due to the recent indication by the Irish government that Brigid’s day will be an annual national holiday in Ireland from 2023. Celebrating the Celtic goddess Brigid, the proposed holiday will be the first public holiday named in honour of a woman.
The light show began with a one-minute silence for Ashling Murphy and all victims of domestic violence. Following this poignant moment, the portraits of 30 young visionary women, designed by students from the National College of Art and Design and Coláiste Dhulaigh were projected onto the walls of the front square.
Amongst these women were 16-year-old climate activist Saoirse Exton, Northern Irish artist Rebecca Lively and journalist and activist Ola Majekodunmi. Speaking with The University Times, Majekodunmi said of the evening: “I found the event to be really beautiful in celebration of Brigid’s Day, a collection of amazing art pieces of the women of Ireland and the world. It’s also a very topical subject at the moment as the treatment and care of women has been discussed widely.”
Majekodunmi is an Irish-language broadcaster and co-founder of Beyond Representation, which aims to celebrate women of colour’s achievements in arts, media and business. She hopes that the herstory movement will provide “a step in the right direction to show all that women are capable of doing. Some of the women I’m inspired by were also projected and it was surreal being in the same line-up as them. It’s such an honour to be recognised and I’m so grateful to Melanie from Herstory as well as Lorna who drew my picture”.
