Children celebrate Travellers in new book

PERFORMANCE  Children from Scoil Iosa, Ballina at the launch of the children’s book ‘This Giant Tent’ at the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life last Friday afternoon.  Pic: Keith Heneghan

On Friday last, April 12, national school children and their families from Ballina gathered at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, to launch a brand new book about their lives and experiences and celebrating their identity and ethnicity.
Developed in response to ‘Travellers’ Journey’, a temporary exhibition, currently on display at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, the book gives voice and expression to children from Scoil Íosa, Ballina and Involve Youth Project who participated in an eight-week creative process alongside Sligo-based writer, Mary Branley and Mayo-based artist, Cas McCarthy.
‘This Giant Tent’ is a large-format publication offering an insightful and visually rich collection of the children’s work. It is a unique publication that explores Traveller and other ethnic identities from the child’s perspective. This is the latest in a range of books by Kids’ Own exploring Traveller culture themes, but the first since the ethnic status of Travellers was recognised in Ireland in 2017.
The book, which aims to reach an audience of children all over Ireland, contains a blend of artwork inspired by the Travellers’ Journey exhibition, conversations with exhibiting artist Leanne McDonagh (1990-) and the artwork of Michel Basquiat (1960-1987) and Joseph Cornell  (1903-1972) as  well as stories and personal reflections developed through dialogues with the writer and artist.
The project was managed by Sligo-based children’s arts organisation and publishing house, Kids’ Own publishing partnership, in collaboration with the National Museum of Ireland, Involve, Ballina and Scoil Íosa.
Jo Holmwood, Acting Director of Kids’ Own, explained: “As Ireland’s only dedicated publisher of books by children for children, Kids’ Own’s work is about supporting children to be seen and heard within our society and culture. This partnership has offered us a unique opportunity to engage children from both Traveller and settled communities in a shared dialogue and creative process that explores broader questions of identity and culture. The work produced in the book is a truly exceptional manifestation of their responses – colourful, insightful, skilled and true to themselves. Our work is about raising the status of children’s artwork and writing and we can’t wait to share this book with a wider audience.”
Lynn Scarff, Director, National Museum of Ireland said: “This is a wonderful book that has come from a great partnership of organisations and most crucially gives voice to underrepresented young people in our community. We are honoured in the National Museum of Ireland to have had the opportunity to work with these young people and see their own interpretation of our exhibition Travellers’ Journey.”

MORE The book will be disseminated through the National Museum of Ireland, education networks, and is also available from the Kids’ Own website: www.kidsown.ie/shop