Athy rehabilitation exhibition a huge success
Dr Sindy Joyce, James Mahon, Antoinette Foley and Laura Buckley(Kildare County Council)
LAST Saturday (19 July) saw the second of a trio of initiatives to celebrate the story of ‘The Hawk aagainst the Dove’ with an exhibition of photographs in the Art House on Leinster Street in Athy.
This was so well-attended the organisers had to use Bradbury’s Café beside them for the crowd overflow.
‘The Hawk against the Dove’ is a photo book by local businessman and photographer James Mahon and his collaboration with former local addict Antoinette Foley which charted her successful four-year battle to get clean.
The book wasoriginally launched in April and the exhibition of all the photos was held on Saturday “immediately after the re-creation of John Minihan’s iconic photo of a crowd in Emily Square,” according to James.
“There were a few 100 in the crowd, it was a very big turnout, and we had to use Bradbury’s for the overflow,” he revealed.
The glossy, 132-page hardback has been so popular it has already gone for a second print run with over 400 now sold.
“[Judge] Des Zaidan bought a copy, he’s very interested as it touches a lot on what he deals with,” said James.
“He was very happy with it, which is great!” Also in attendance was Annette Aspell, deputy CEO of Kildare County Council, Grainne Johnson from the Housing First programme.
The exhibition was opened by Dr Sindi Joyce, a lecturer in UL, a member of the President’s Council of State, and the first Traveller to be awarded a doctorate from an Irish university.
The third event is to be the ‘HawkTalk’ in Athy Library on Thursday, 31 July where James and Antoinette will be interviewed by Anthony Haughey from the Art House discussing the project and the use of art in community awareness.
