Photos: Jenny Callanan Photography
A new exhibition exploring identity, voice and visibility has opened at Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda.
Raise Your Spear, created by Literary Development Officer Dani Gill, is running in the gallery space from May 1 to 23. The exhibition was officially launched by the Mayor of Drogheda, Cllr Michelle Hall.
The project is based on a poem from Gill’s collection Lessons in Kindness and looks at what it means to be LGBTQ+ in Ireland, both in private and in public life.
“Raise Your Spear is about voices… making visible something that is often a private fight, borne in silence,” Dani Gill said.
Over the past year, Gill has worked with local young people through a series of workshops focused on identity, community and advocacy. As part of the process, each participant created a symbolic spear to represent their own voice, strength and visibility.
Those pieces now form the centre of the exhibition, alongside written reflections from the young people involved.
The exhibition features contributions from students at Drogheda Grammar School, St Mary’s Diocesan School, St Oliver’s Community College and Coláiste na hInse.
Bringing together art and personal experience, Raise Your Spear offers a space for young people to express themselves and be seen, while inviting the wider community to reflect on identity and inclusion.
