Category: Exhibition

GAOLS, GHOSTS, GARRISONS AND GASMASKS

A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF LIFE ON SPIKE ISLAND

by Fionnghuala Smith

Spike Island has a unique and specific history compared to the rest of Ireland.
It has had a British Military presence from 1779 to 1938 – a one hundred and fifty-nine-year span that has had to have a major influence on its residents and that of Cork Harbour over that period. From 1847 to 1883 it became a famine era prison but still had a garrison presence on the island during that time.

Even though Spike Island was a military establishment the resident children had a great freedom on the island and were able to play and wander anywhere they wanted. Spike was their world, and they were very much insulated from the outside – if they did travel it may be one day a week for a couple of hours to Cork city. Up on the War Department launches and back again a couple of hours later. Most children who were brought up on Spike Island never forgot their idyllic life there for the rest of their lives. Many who had to leave Spike and move to Cobh and elsewhere found it all very unsettling.

A terrible period happened for children when they put a prison there in 1847. Whence before and after the prison these children had the freedom of the island, now it became an island of incarceration, cruelty and devastation.

The exhibition tells some of these stories. Although all the stories are based on historical facts – like a good Hollywood movie certain embellishment and artistic license has been taken.

An Exhibition by Barbara Diener – Culture Night 2025

Friday 19 September
5pm-7pm

Where Silence Settles is the result of this year’s artist residency at Spike Island, presented in the atmospheric Punishment Block as part of Culture Night this September. Developed by Cork-based artist Barbara Diener, the exhibition continues a five-year partnership between Spike Island and Sample-Studios, supporting site-responsive work that engages with the island’s layered history.

Diener brings a contemplative lens to Spike Island’s complex legacy. Her practice explores memory, time and obsolescence—qualities echoed in the island’s crumbling walls and overlooked narratives. Working with archival materials, installations, and both still and moving images, she constructs a visual narrative that traces what remains after silence has settled.

The exhibition draws from pivotal moments in the island’s past, including the story of The Aud and its connection to the Easter Rising. Diener’s haunting underwater video work and photographs of abandoned, overgrown architecture—often in areas not normally accessible to the public—reflect how nature slowly reclaims places marked by human ambition and conflict, offering a quiet meditation on loss, transformation and renewal.

Visitors are invited to engage during an artist talk accompanying the exhibition, providing further insight into the process and work on display. A short guided tour will take place at the beginning of the event.

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The artworks on display in one of the cells at Spike Island are the culmination of a collaborative group project undertaken during the 2024–2025 academic year. For several years, the ceramic and textile classes in the Education Unit have worked closely together, producing mixed-media pieces—wall hangings and sculptures—that interweave personal stories and shared memory.

This year’s theme explores the natural world of Ireland. Each student selected a favourite wild animal or plant and expressed their ideas through personal sculptures or two-dimensional textile works. Using Visual Thinking Strategies, students observed and interpreted their environment—drawing on memory and imagination to create, even within the confines of prison life.

The resulting works are imaginative, often humorous and always deeply personal—blending the representational with the fantastical to form a striking exhibition.

Cork Prison Education Unit 2025

Since 2021, Spike Island has partnered with Sample-Studios and, more recently, Sirius Arts Centre to support a series of thoughtful, site-responsive exhibitions. These collaborations have brought contemporary artists into dialogue with the island’s charged history and unique landscape, with the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in Cork city serving as a key presenting venue.

Barbara Diener is the ninth artist to participate in this ongoing programme. During her residency, she will immerse herself in the layered histories of Spike Island. Her work will bring together archival artefacts, sculpture and both still and moving images created on and around the island.

Diener’s approach is deeply responsive to place. On Spike Island, she has been especially drawn to its complex architecture and the traces left behind by those who once lived or were held there. One story in particular, the covert 1916 voyage of The Aud, a German ship sent to aid the Easter Rising, resonated strongly, bridging her ongoing interest in German history and hidden military operations. This thread connects with her earlier project The Rocket’s Red Glare, which examined the life and legacy of Wernher von Braun, revealing the moral ambiguities in how history is told and remembered.

A recurring theme throughout Diener’s practice is the quiet persistence of nature in the face of abandonment. On Spike Island, overgrown barracks, crumbling walls, and plant life forcing its way through cracks become metaphors for endurance and transformation. These confined yet living spaces feel simultaneously claustrophobic and resilient suggesting that even in places built for control, something wild and quietly hopeful, endures.

This partnership is supported by the Arts Council, Cork County Council and Cork City Council.

‘Each name, a story…’ is a powerful exhibition that brings to light the names of hundreds of men and boys who died on Spike Island between 1847 and 1883—a period defined by the devastation of the Great Famine and its aftermath. Established as a convict depot at the height of the crisis, Spike Island rapidly became one of the largest prisons in Britain, housing individuals, many driven to crime by poverty and desperation, in overcrowded conditions.

Drawing from archival sources and first-hand accounts, the exhibition offers a deeply human perspective on incarceration, exploring themes of survival, injustice and loss. It acknowledges the staggering death toll—over a thousand men are believed to have died while imprisoned on the island. Through carefully compiled data from transportation records in the Irish National Archives, ‘Each name, a story…’ presents one of the most comprehensive public lists to date of those who perished—many of whose names had long been lost to history.

‘Each Name, A Story…’ was curated by Dorota Gubbins, whose work brings together archival investigation, interpretive storytelling and curatorial sensitivity to recover these long-overlooked lives.

Combining historical research, artistic interpretation and commemorative intention, this exhibition invites reflection on the human cost of institutional systems, the fragility of memory and the importance of bearing witness. It does not seek to rewrite history, but to give space and voice to those who endured its harshest realities.

The exhibition is enriched by the work of artist Sinéad Barrett, who served as artist-in-residence on Spike Island in 2023. Sinéad’s series of evocative paintings responds to the psychological effects of isolation and imprisonment, using cold, desaturated tones and recurring motifs—windows, locks, chains—to reflect the mental weight of confinement. Her work serves as a contemporary response to historical trauma, creating a poignant bridge between past and present.

The names were sourced from the Transportation Register (1836–1857) held in the National Archives of Ireland, while the design was inspired by prison ledgers from that period, including those from Spike Island.

This year’s exhibition is proudly presented as part of the 2025 Cork Harbour Festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary from 24 May to 2 June. As one of over 100 events spanning the city and harbour, the exhibition contributes to Ireland’s largest celebration of maritime culture, storytelling and art by spotlighting a significant chapter in our shared history—one rooted in the harbour’s own island prison.

Meet Our Artists-in-Residence: Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring

Spike Island is proud to welcome Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring as our current Artists-in-Residence.

About the Artists: Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring, LaveryRing, have been collaborating for over 25 years, working with a wide variety of materials including cast bronze, aluminium, steel, glass, enamelled copper, and printmaking. The focus of their work is site-specific, delving into the history, myths and geographical influences of each location. By transforming these elements, they weave patterns of reference into tangible, context-rich artworks. Notable examples of the work are ‘The Wave‘ at the Lusitania Memorial, Old Head of Kinsale and ‘Strongbow & Aoife‘, in the Viking Triangle, Waterford.

Residency Focus: During LaveryRing’s residency at Spike Island, Liam and Eithne will delve into the rich tapestry of Spike Island’s history by crafting an immersive experience centred on the olfactory senses. This project will blend the evocative power of scents with other mediums such as printmaking and sculpture, creating a multi-sensory narrative that reflects the human experience within the confines of Spike Island’s prisons.

Upcoming Event: Pop-up exhibition and Artists Talk | Spike Island | 23-25.08.2024
On these days you can meet the artists and see their work in progress while gaining insights into their creative process.

Artists’ Statement: “By connecting the stories and history of the prison with scents, we hope to stimulate dialogue and give the viewer a deeper level of insight into the lived experience of those who were incarcerated within its prison walls.”

This innovative approach aims to engage viewers on a multisensory level, enriching their understanding of the site’s historical context.

“Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring’s residency at Spike Island has brought a fresh perspective to the island’s storied past“, said Spike Island’s curator, Dorota Gubbins. “Through their innovative approaches, they highlight historical events and individuals, presenting them in a way that redefines our understanding and appreciation of this historic site.”

THIS PROJECT IS THE RESULT OF A COLLABORATION BETWEEN SPIKE ISLAND, SAMPLE-STUDIOS AND SIRIUS ARTS CENTRE.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

This exhibition results from a groundbreaking course undertaken by prisoners from Cork Prison in collaboration with University College Cork (UCC). Developed by HSE Addiction Services, UCC, and James Leonard of ‘The Two Norries’ podcast, this module is the first UCC-accredited course in Substance Misuse and Addiction Studies offered within an Irish prison.

UCC/HSE Level 7 NFQ Diploma in Substance Misuse and Addiction Studies Module (SS184): Understanding Drugs in a Social Context

Approach: The module uses a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to assessment, aimed at attracting a diverse range of adult learners in the prison education unit. This method supports multiple means of performance, expression and representation, ensuring that all students can demonstrate their understanding in varied ways.

Content: Students study major psychopharmacological substances, both licit and illicit, including alcohol, antidepressants, anti-psychotics, benzodiazepines, hallucinogens, hypnotics, cannabis and cannabinoids, opiates, and stimulants. The course covers routes of transmission and the physical, mental, social and legal impacts of substance misuse. It also explores substance use on a continuum from no use to severe dependence and its effects on individuals, families, communities and society. Critical examination includes historical and socio-cultural understandings, abstinence approaches, harm reduction, safer injecting facilities and medical uses of controlled substances.

Aims: The course aims to equip students with knowledge of commonly misused substances, differentiating between substance use, misuse, dependence and addiction. It addresses the pharmacology of drugs and their biological, mood, behavioral and cognitive impacts. Students are engaged with Irish drug and alcohol policies and historical perspectives on substance misuse. The course introduces theoretical models of addiction, including the Moral, Bio-Medical, Disease, Psychological, and Socio-Cultural Models. It also evaluates non-substance-related addictions, such as gambling, gaming, and internet use, along with their treatments. Additionally, the course discusses critical issues affecting individuals with co-occurring substance misuse and mental health disorders.

Assessment and Learning Outcomes: Assessment includes continuous evaluation and an Object-Based Learning (OBL) project.
Supported by Cork ETB art teachers and an art therapist, students created final assessment artefacts that reflect their learning journey.

Transformational Learning: This exhibition showcases these artefacts, providing evidence of the students’ engagement and understanding. It aims to evoke curiosity, wonder, and appreciation for the transformative power of education within the prison environment.

The Inside Out Project

The Inside Out Project comprises both ‘outside students,’ who are second- and third-year BA students from the Department of Sociology & Criminology at UCC, and ‘inside students,’ who are students from the Cork Prison ETB Education Unit.

This project is designed to break barriers and prejudices, offering all students a unique opportunity to study together as peers behind prison walls.