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Riverine Nine Stories from The Gambia Riverine Nine Stories from The Gambia

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Riverine Nine stories from the Gambia

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9 years ago

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With the support of the Simon Cumbers Media Fund, Maurice Gunning and Alice McDowell travelled to The Gambia in early 2015 to create RIVERINE Nine Stories from The Gambia.

 A quiet, yet powerful revolutionary movement is underway throughout this small African nation – to protect and nurture female health and sexuality across the country.

In a series of intimate photographic portraits, the exhibition explores the physical and internal landscapes of nine women: utilising interviews and ambient recording from their homes in The Gambia. These women have made the life-changing decision to abandon the traditional practice of female circumcision. However, as custodians of the tradition, their actions to cease this practice have not always been embraced by their communities: as female circumcision is widely regarded as a religious and cultural obligation.  

Through dialogue and advocacy with religious scholars and the district chiefs of the villages which stretch from the Upper River Region of The Gambia to its meeting with the Atlantic, local organisations have begun to eradicate this practice from the country.


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The nine women and their stories presented here, illustrate how combining the elements of custom and tradition with education and knowledge, great change can come about for a country and its people. All nine women are forging a new life and livelihood for themselves, and most importantly, a new future for women in The Gambia.

 The exhibition will be formally opened by Professor Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, on Tuesday 24th November at 6pm in the main gallery, The Hunt Museum, Limerick.

Riverine – Nine Stories from The Gambia will be one of the largest photographic exhibitions in Ireland this year with 65 prints presented at the Hunt Museum.

Exhibition open daily from Monday 23rd Nov – Sunday 29th November.

Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sundays 2-5pm.

Further information available here

Visit the Hunt Museum website here

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Read about Limerick art here

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