Suicide is the leading cause of death of young adults in Ireland and the UK, cloaked in stigma and shame. The durational arts-science collaborative model, Lived Lives addresses the stigma of suicide in a safe space through restoring identity of loved ones lost to suicide and acknowledging the loss to families in a nonjudgmental and compassionate setting. Lived Lives is a travelling exhibition that includes the border communities of Donegal, Leitrim and Tory Island, as well as the community of St Patrick’s University Hospital Dublin, Ireland’s oldest psychiatric institution, established following a donation from Jonathan Swift (1746). The exhibition is made possible with the informed permission of the Lived LivesFamilies.
Lived Lives is a unique durational, interdisciplinary art-science research project around stigma and suicide, in essence a active community intervention. Suicide-bereaved families throughout Ireland donated stories, images and objects associated with the lived life of a loved one lost to suicide, with the research engagement mostly taking place around kitchen tables. This action restored identity to the deceased, foregrounding the lived life as opposed to the manner of their death. Moving from private to public, a mediated exhibition was co-created and co-curated with artist, scientist, families and communities, involving a series of artworks, adapted to site, facilitating dialogue and response. Lived Lives has become a novel intervention around suicide, the impacts of which have been described as “transformative”, and is embedded in the County Donegal implementation plan for “Connecting for Life”; Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015-2020.
Following the impacts of Lived Lives: A Pavee Perspective, 2015 we want to continue addressing stigma about suicide and depression at the geographic, economic and psychological margins of society. Lived Lives will journey over 16 months from the communities of Tory Island, the final westerly outpost of the EU, through the Northern Ireland border counties of Donegal ( an Galeria Gweedore/Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny) and Leitrim ( Leitrim Sculptural Factory) to St. Patrick’s University Hospital (SPUH), Ireland’s oldest psychiatric institution in Dublin (founded with a donation from Johnathan Swift in 1746), before returning to Letterkenny in Nov 2018 for an interdisciplinary symposium "Unpacking the Practice"
Lived Lives transforms 2D data into a 3D psychological aesthetic experience. and creates safe sites for uncomfortable conversations. Through mediated engagement with these artworks and interactive public lectures, these often discounted communities will be empowered to address suicide and stigma in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them, in a compassionate, safe space. Bereavement support will be available at all events as per Ethics protocol. Feedback and evaluation is integral to the project and will include oral and written feedback, video documentation of engagements and objective project observers.
Supported by a Science & Society People Award from The Wellcome Trust