The exhibition opened in the Garter Lane Arts Centre on Thursday evening, 9 May. We were delighted to see, among the “flying birds” of the show, many of the artists and illustrators who created the artwork on display.
 
The show is the result of a collaboration between IBBY Ireland, Illustrators Ireland and Garter Lane, and features the work of over 30 professional artists and illustrators and people who have “migrated” to Ireland and are living in Direct Provision.
 
The theme of migration was chosen in order to highlight the situation that refugees across Europe are faced with and the exhibition  “ was inspired by what it is to flee on a wing and a prayer.”
 
The event was opened by Síle Pinkert, Executive Director of Garter Lane, Michelle McQuaid, who works with the Waterford Area Partnership, and Jane O’Hanlon, President of IBBY Ireland.
 
Origami birds created by students at local schools were also on display in the gallery and are a lovely visual addition to the theme of the exhibition.
 
The show will run until the end of June.

To celebrate Welcome to the Flock, the exhibition opening in Garter Lane this week and supported by IBBY Ireland, primary school pupils in County Waterford have been making origami birds.
                                                                                      

“Welcome to the Flock” is an exhibition of bird and flight images created by professional artists and illustrators to highlight the plight of thousands of families who have been forced to migrate to safer places in the world. The exhibition, which opens in the Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford next week, is a collaboration of artists from Illustrators Ireland as well as selected guests. It is supported by IBBY Ireland.
 
IBBY Ireland and Illustrators Ireland felt that an important contribution to the exhibition would be the inclusion of artwork on the theme of migration produced by residents living in Direct Provision.
 
Tatyana Feeney, of Illustrators Ireland, spent the day with a group of residents from Waterford Direct Provision. Participants came from backgrounds as diverse as Albania, South Africa and Nigeria, and were encouraged to create images of birds that exist in their countries of origin, or that live only in their imagination.
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