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Mar 29, 2016
Media: Oil
Size: 8x8 in
The painting featured here is"Famine Monument."The crudely carved Celtic cross was donated in 1983 to the people of Ireland by the people of South Africa, to commemorate the Irish Famine.The cross sits alongside a lonely road in County Mayo overlooking Lake Doolough where, on March 30, 1849 -- 167 years ago today* -- a large number of starving people perished in one of the most horrific single events of the Great Hunger. They had walked 10 miles of this desolate road, then little more than a goat trail, to beg British landlords' agents for food or a ticket to the workhouse. They were turned away, ironically since the officials were enjoying a feast. They were told to try again the next day. Utterly beaten, they began the long trek home, but many simply succumbed to starvation, and some are buried along the road, just where they fell.
Fittingly, a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi is inscribed into the base of the monument: "How can men feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings?" The Irish Famine or "Great Hunger" was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is also known (mostly outside Ireland) as the Irish Potato Famine. During the famine years, approximately one million people died and another million emigrated from Ireland, causing Ireland's population to fall by about 25%. A major cause of the famine was a disease known as potato blight, which ravaged potato crops throughout Ireland and continental Europe in the 1840s.However, the real culprits were the British who, of course, ruled Ireland at the time. While the Irish people were dying of starvation, England was exporting beef and other food products, grown by Irish people on Irish soil, to places like America and Canada, sharing none of it with the Irish. British landlords drove the Irish from their cottages when the Irish could no longer pay their rent on the land. Even today, when one travels across Ireland one sees the remains of thousands of "famine cottages" dotting the beautiful landscape. All are roofless because British agents stove in the roofs to keep the occupants from being able even to shelter from the elements in their former homes. If those atrocities were occurring today, we would rightly refer to them as terrorism and genocide. Mary Beth and I visited the monument on a dark, cold, windy and rainy day. Knowing the sad story, and feeling the presence of those who died that awful day, made the visit a profoundly moving experience.*Footnote: Today being March 30, 2016 Sources:The Encyclopedia of Ireland(2003),The Great Hunger(1962),TheHeritage of Mayo(1983), Personal Experience (2009-present)
The painting featured here is"Famine Monument."The crudely carved Celtic cross was donated in 1983 to the people of Ireland by the people of South Africa, to commemorate the Irish Famine.The cross sits alongside a lonely road in County Mayo overlooking Lake Doolough where, on March 30, 1849 -- 167 years ago today* -- a large number of starving people perished in one of the most horrific single events of the Great Hunger. They had walked 10 miles of this desolate road, then little more than a goat trail, to beg British landlords' agents for food or a ticket to the workhouse. They were turned away, ironically since the officials were enjoying a feast. They were told to try again the next day. Utterly beaten, they began the long trek home, but many simply succumbed to starvation, and some are buried along the road, just where they fell.
Fittingly, a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi is inscribed into the base of the monument: "How can men feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings?" The Irish Famine or "Great Hunger" was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is also known (mostly outside Ireland) as the Irish Potato Famine. During the famine years, approximately one million people died and another million emigrated from Ireland, causing Ireland's population to fall by about 25%. A major cause of the famine was a disease known as potato blight, which ravaged potato crops throughout Ireland and continental Europe in the 1840s.However, the real culprits were the British who, of course, ruled Ireland at the time. While the Irish people were dying of starvation, England was exporting beef and other food products, grown by Irish people on Irish soil, to places like America and Canada, sharing none of it with the Irish. British landlords drove the Irish from their cottages when the Irish could no longer pay their rent on the land. Even today, when one travels across Ireland one sees the remains of thousands of "famine cottages" dotting the beautiful landscape. All are roofless because British agents stove in the roofs to keep the occupants from being able even to shelter from the elements in their former homes. If those atrocities were occurring today, we would rightly refer to them as terrorism and genocide. Mary Beth and I visited the monument on a dark, cold, windy and rainy day. Knowing the sad story, and feeling the presence of those who died that awful day, made the visit a profoundly moving experience.*Footnote: Today being March 30, 2016 Sources:The Encyclopedia of Ireland(2003),The Great Hunger(1962),TheHeritage of Mayo(1983), Personal Experience (2009-present) |
Available Paintings by Bob Blackmon
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