The Cork Folklore Project’s ‘Catching Stories’ launches this week
The Cork Folklore Project’s ‘Catching Stories’ exhibition and online resource featuring the memories and testimonials of Evelyn Wainwright and other polio survivors, is launching.
Running in University College Cork’s Boole Library from the 16th of February to the 25th of June 2023, the project showcases personal stories and memories of infectious disease in Ireland.
Dr Clíona O’Carroll, from the Cork Folklore Project and Department of Folklore and Ethnology, UCC, says, “It is important to acknowledge how listening to communities can inform our understanding of public health developments. The impact of the project will live on for years, as this valuable testimony will be safeguarded in the archives of the Cork Folklore Project.”
The project centers on the human experience and features audio installations, links to interviews, and interactions with physical objects. Many people have been interviewed and their stories captured ensuring they are not forgotten.
Interviewees recall manually ventilating a child with polio throughout the night in 1956, or moving along a waiting-room bench when facing vaccination by the dreaded ‘Branding Iron’.
Project coordinator James Foley thanked Polio Survivors Ireland for our contribution, saying, “The project was strengthened with the inclusion of people like Evelyn.”
Find out more by clicking here: https://catchingstories.org