Magdalene Convent Project

For CCS (history), on Thursday mornings we have almost like the second part of CCS, separate from the main CCS lectures. In these small CCS's we were given a project.

A piece a student in my class did. Names of the women that were in the Magdalene Convent. A monument to the women who have died in Convent. A really nice gesture I think!

Background

 My college, LSAD, was once a Magdalene Convent. During the 1960's, religion in Ireland ruled the lives of it's people. Many things were considered sinful, especially sexual activities. A man and woman couldn't even look at each other in a romantic way if they didn't have the intention to marry first. If a couple became intimate and have sex before marriage this was considered a huge sin. Also during this time women had very little or no rights. The punishment for committing these 'sins' for women were incredibly harsh and cruel whereas men would receive very little punishment. When a woman commits these sins and isn't married, they are sent to a Magdalene Convent to work in the laundry's from morning till night without pay. Some women have spent their lives working in the laundries of the convent. Due to the fact that these women are in the Convent no matter the circumstances, they were banished from society. The families of the women were completely ashamed of these women. Parents disowned their daughters and wanted to have nothing to do with them.

Our Research

In my studio class group, we were assigned a project to write an essay with the theme about the Magdalene Sisters. We watched the film "Magdalene Sister's" itself. I never watched the film before because I was told it was really sad, I'm not very good with sad films! .. and they were right, it's a very sad reality based film to watch. I realised just how harsh things were back then. I know it's probably a dramatised version in the film or even holding back on the harsh realities of the time but fact that the film is based on real life makes things far more sad and realistic.
It's based around three main characters, all of whom who sent away to the Convent for their reasons.

• One was attacked and raped by her drunken cousin. She told her relative in tears who then told others. Her father in shame sent her away.
• Another had a baby, but she wasn't married. Her mother couldn't even look at her daughter or the baby out of shame despite the young woman's pleading. Her baby was taken away for adoption and she was sent away to the Convent.
• The third, a young beautiful woman, still in school (a boarding school I think), received to much attention from men. Head of the school sent her away, she was believed to be a temptress... despite her being a virgin!

So as you can probably see, these women suffered greatly reasons where it was either not their fault or for no reason at all, simply for being pretty. I can't help but think what if we were still so suppressed by religion, what would it be like?, especially if you were a woman. I imagine it would be a difficult life to live, having to be cautious of every word you spoke and every action you take. No freedom whatsoever.

We also watched documentaries about interviews with actual women who eventually were released from the prison or work house that they called a Convent. Watching it nearly brought me to tears. The awful life stories they had to tell. I'm even lost for words to describe what those women must have felt.
So here, you can see for yourself, despite being sad it is also interesting and you can't help but admire and respect these strong women ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxOePGgXPs

There was an exhibition here at LSAD by Evelyn Glynn. She wanted the history about the Magdalene Asylums to be known by everyone. Ireland's religious societies tried keeping it hidden for many years. We were asked to write a review of her exhibition along with a review of the "Magdalene Sister's" and also for our digital presentation we were asked to write about our contribution. We started off with the topic of stairs. Influenced by a previous students artwork. My contribution was basically taking photos of stairs at interesting angles. Unfortunately my work wont be included in the digital presentation.

So now, time to write this essay. I will put it on my blog after I have submitted it :) Think I'll do the same with my Renaissance essay too sometime, we'll see!!

...stay chuned! :)