Imagine arriving in a country which you have never heard of and hearing a language which jars your ears with its alien sounds and resonances. Imagine your first encounter in this country being with a man in a uniform who resembles the uniformed man who tortured you in your home country and being paralysed by fear by this strong visceral memory which overwhelms your whole being. Imagine the impact of the devastating loss: of family, culture, language, identity, and life as it was.
This is the reality for many of the young men whose stories are so sensitively collected, portrayed, and embodied in Miriam McConnon’s multifaceted work in this exhibition ‘The Refugee’s Armour’. These pieces powerfully capture the layered narratives of the young men with whom she has so meaningfully connected and to whose experiences she has given voice with empathy and grace. This is also the reality for those whom I have the privilege of supporting as a therapist. In telling such profoundly human stories McConnon aims to defy the frequently blunt and cruel categorisations of media populism. These personal testimonies are essential to counter this toxic narrative. Human beings with all of their vulnerabilities who claim asylum are protected only by individual psychological armour constructed of personal coping and survival skills, together with the proverbial ‘shirt on their back’.
This protective armour ensures the survival of the young men portrayed by McConnon who have been violently uprooted in body and mind. They have survived. They are the lucky ones. Miriam’s paintings of these young men’s armour are each personalised with meaningful patterns and materials connected to their pre-flight lives and their journeys of forced migration. Heartbreaking stories of being driven from their homes, of having to leave infants, children and other family members behind, and of surviving military attacks. Stories of sudden separations, protracted displacement within their own countries, safety seeking, and fleeting reunions. Stories of fragile hope. Stories of possible futures.
In therapy we accompany the young person on their healing journey, never forcing them to remove the armour which has guaranteed their survival but which may not serve them as well in their new country. Not until they are ready. When the time is right, we help them to gently disconnect and process tiny pieces, one by one, at their own pace. We help them to feel safe without those pieces, to replace them with something more fluid, more breathable, something which gives them room to grow and regain their dignity and which can be constantly remoulded to the shape of their evolving identities.
As well as revealing their armour to McConnon, the young men who inspired the exhibition showed her personal objects from their journey out of conflict and war, the intricate detail and meaning of which she so effectively captures in her smaller paintings. The sharing of personal objects and their use to recreate and embody stories is often necessary when trauma stifles the spoken word. They hold
layers of experience, layers of meaning and layers of identity. This reality imbued with symbolism is also expressed through the artist’s highly evocative garment installation ‘Armours’. Garments from these young men’s migratory journey hang in the gallery space alongside the paintings. They have been loaned to McConnon by the young men who inspired her work and are thoughtfully displayed as true to each man’s physical size, allowing their personal physical presence to be felt while their identities are protected.
Psychological armour to protect, personal objects to connect and clothing to bear witness. Thank you Miriam for providing us with these beautiful ways to tell the most human of stories.
Dr Rachel Hoare
Director of the Centre for Forced Migration Studies in Trinity College, Dublin and
expressive arts psychotherapist working with unaccompanied minors on behalf of Tusla.