Kerry Arts and Human Rights Festival: Eternal Rebels – Irish Women Changemakers in History Exhibition
Kerry Arts and Human Rights Festival: Eternal Rebels – Irish Women Changemakers in History Exhibition
June 7 @ 10:00 am – October 31 @ 5:00 pm IST
Photography, poetry and storytelling highlighting the lives of 13 women changemakers in Irish history
Book Your Place
Available to view as part of the Old Barracks Heritage Centre self-guided tour. More info here.
Exhibition Credits
Artist: Mary Moynihan, Writer, Poet, Creator of Art and Photography
Curator: Mary Moynihan
Producers: Freda Manweiler, Ciara Hayes, Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality
Graphic Design: EM Creative
Framing: Appletons Picture Framers Film Editing: High Wire Ltd
Full Event Details
The Barracks Heritage Centre is a three-storey museum and visitor experience featuring immersive exhibitions, historical artefacts, and panoramic turret views that tell the story of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Fenian Rising, Daniel O’Connell—known as The Liberator—and the local people who helped shape Irish history. Integrated throughout the museum is Eternal Rebels: Irish Women Changemakers, a visual art exhibition by artist Mary Moynihan. Blending photography, poetry, and storytelling, Eternal Rebels comprises twelve storyboard artworks that appear throughout the heritage centre, each celebrating the life and legacy of an extraordinary woman who transformed Irish history. The exhibition is included with the standard admission ticket to The Barracks Heritage Centre.
The stories include Constance Markievicz (1868-1927), Irish politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist; Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926), poet, writer, trade unionist, feminist, a campaigner for equality and social justice and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877-1946), radical activist, feminist, pacifist, human rights campaigner and one of Ireland’s foremost suffragettes. Two of the women are from Valentia Island – Helen Blackburn (1842-1903), Writer, Suffragist and Feminist Campaigner for Women’s Rights and Worker’s Rights; and Maude Jane Delap (1866-1953), a pioneering Marine Biologist who had a sea anemone named after her, the ‘Edwardsia delapiae’, which she discovered in shallow sea waters on Valentia Island’s shores.
Two new stories are added for this year’s annual Kerry Arts and Human Rights festival – Mary O’Connell and Janie McCarthy. Mary O’Connell (1778–1836) born in Tralee, was an Irish woman and practical force behind the O’Connell household, raising a large family often under difficult financial circumstances. She acted at times as the family estate manager, family matriarch, and trusted political confidante whose management of the O’Connell household and correspondence helped sustain one of the most influential political careers in nineteenth-century Ireland. Her surviving letters reveal an intelligent, resilient woman whose emotional support and organisational abilities underpinned one of Ireland’s greatest political movements. Janie McCarthy (1885-1964) from Killarney, Ireland lived in Paris during World War II and became involved in the French Resistance. She managed to evade capture and survived the war. Her area of specialisation was in rescue work, saving a number of lives including members of the allied intelligence services and armies.
Mary Moynihan (she/her) is an award-winning writer, poet, theatre and film-maker and a creator of art and photography. Mary is Artistic Director of Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, and Artistic Curator for the annual Dublin Arts and Human Rights festival supported by The Arts Council.
Presented for the Kerry Arts and Human Rights Festival 18-19 July 2026 and for the annual international Irish Arts and Human Rights Festival 9-18 October 2026
Information at 087 2214245 or admin@smashingtimes.ie
Speaker Biographies:
Mary Moynihan, MA, she/her, is an award-winning author of novels, plays, poetry and films, originally from Dublin, Ireland. Mary has an honours BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin and an honours Masters in Film Production from TU Dublin. Mary embarked upon her award-winning career as a writer in theatre and film and has garnered much acclaim for her plays, poetry and short film scripts and for creating inter-disciplinary artworks combining writing and photography presented in galleries and online. She established and became Artistic Director of Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality and is Artistic Curator for the annual Dublin Arts and Human Rights festival.
After raising four children, now all adults, and following her recovery from serious illness, Mary dedicated her time to becoming a writer. She writes fiction for young people and adults featuring stories of courage, laughter, tragedy, happiness, love, death and action-packed adventures. Mary is the author of a young adult fantasy novel series Amergin and the Warriors of Zen. In her adult fiction, Mary’s characters are clever, fearless, vulnerable, crazy, and strong, looking for love, fun, success and happiness. Her work promises enthralling plots, dramatic lives, lots of laughs, serious flirting and sexual intrigue and insights into love, happiness, creativity and meaning in life.
Mary pens a series of articles and Creative Musings on Arts, Creativity, Leadership and Self-Esteem which appears in the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality newsletter and on Mary’s website marymoynihan.ie
In her free time Mary loves to spend time with her four adult children, hang out with friends and swims in the sea all year round. She loves the ocean, sky and moon and has a spiritual connection to the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea, to the environs of Dublin bay and to the mystical landscapes of Valentia Island and the surrounding Iveragh peninsula in County Kerry, her spiritual home. She is a big fan of the Dublin GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams.
Organisations Involved / Partner Organisation(s):
