THE ‘A Day in May’ photographic exhibition was officially launched at The Belltable last Monday evening. The event was organised by Yes Equality Limerick and supported by GOSSH and Limerick Pride as the exhibition coincides with this year’s festival.
The exhibition perfectly illustrates ‘A Day in May’ (May 23, 2015 to be exact) when the people of Ireland made history by becoming the first country in the world to pass same sex marriage by popular vote.
The emotional scenes from across Ireland and Dublin Castle, as the historic vote was declared made headlines across the world and changed peoples lives in Ireland forever.
According to RTE broadcaster Charlie Bird who travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to record the moving stories of some of the people impacted by the Marriage Equality referendum, the vote was about changing the ‘Real Lives’ of the largest minority of the people in Ireland: the LGBT community.
Charlie helped compile 52 stories and personal photographs which are combined in the ‘A Day in May’ book published by Merrion Press.
‘A Day in May’ photograph exhibition meanwhile gives everyone the opportunity to see the stunning selection of portraits by leading Irish photographers like Karl Hayden, John Minihan (famous for his portraits of Samuel Beckett) Tristan Hutchinson, Peter MacMenamin, John Colgan (of Riverdance fame) and Kate Nolan.
Included in the portraits were Limerick locals Sharon Slater, Jenny Hannon who spoke at the launch and Caroline Steward, who all shared their stories in the book. Dave Cuddihy, Campaign co-ordinator with YES Equality in Limerick introduced Charlie Bird who spoke about his many experiences writing the book which is a moving record of the day and the photographs compliment the stories in the book beautifully, amplifying the life affirming impact of that day in May 2015 when Ireland said YES to equality.
All proceeds from the sale of the book are going to suicide awareness and prevention and the exhibition at the Belltable is open until July 15.
