On Thursday 25 April 2024 Mountjoy Prison Maynooth University Partnership cohosted the SCARS/ARR exhibition of prisoner art work with the Maynooth University Library.
Speaking at the event were Governor David Mulligan, Mountjoy Prison; Stephen O'Connor Organiser of Education Service to Prisons, City of Dublin ETB; Dr. Rose Ryan, Director of Maynooth University Access Programme; and Claire O'Connell, Guidance Counsellor, City of Dublin ETB. The event was attended by staff and students of Maynooth University, external partners including Gaisce, County Kildare Leader Partnership and Jobcare. Also in attendance was Kin Wessel, representing the Norwegian ARR-group. Færder vgs, Norway.
SCARS/ARR is an EU funded collaborative project involving prison students in Mountjoy, Norway and Malawi.
Prison artists were asked to choose a scar on their body, take a photo of it and tell the story of how it came to be. Everyone has a story to tell and everyone has scars both physical and unseesn. They are signs of something we all have in common, stories of being human and memories of lives lived. The exhibition opened to the public from 25-29 April.