Art Opening Cawein Gallery: Doug Anderson | Saturday, February 7, 4:00-6:00 p.m

Artist’s Statement

The works in this exhibition explore the harsh realities of the Irish Potato Famine:
mass evictions, overcrowded workhouses, unmarked graves, and dangerous journeys
across the Atlantic. These scenes stand in stark contrast to the vast amounts of food,
grain, and livestock that continued to be exported from Ireland to Britain while Irish
families starved. Together, they expose the deep injustice at the heart of the famine.
 

Ireland is a small country (only about one-third the size of Oregon) yet Irish
immigration has had an enormous impact on the United States. Today, about one in
ten Americans, including myself, claim Irish heritage. Despite this, knowledge of Irish
history is often shallow and shaped by commercialized stereotypes: St. Patrick’s Day
celebrations, green beer, Riverdance, leprechauns, and even Lucky Charms. This
nostalgia obscures the true reason millions of Irish people came to America: An
Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845–1851 was the worst
humanitarian disaster in nineteenth-century Europe, yet its history remains largely
unknown to many Americans.
 

Before beginning this project, I understood the famine only in broad terms; starvation
followed by emigration. I did not grasp its full scale or lasting impact. Between one
and one-and-a-half million people died, and more than two million were forced to
leave Ireland, most traveling to the United States. Emigration continued for decades,
permanently reshaping the country. Today, with a population of about 5.4 million,
Ireland has still not recovered from its pre-famine population of over eight million.
The famine triggered one of the largest migrations to the United States in its history,
profoundly shaping American culture, politics, religion, and labor.
 

As part of my research, I walked the 103-mile National Famine Way, retracing the
forced march of 1,490 tenants evicted by their landlord, Denis Mahon, in 1847.
Beginning at Strokestown Park, now the National Famine Museum, I followed the
Royal Canal to Dublin over eight days. This path follows the journey these families
were forced to take on their pre-paid voyage in “coffin ships” bound for Canada.
Although walking this route in no way mirrors their suffering, it allowed me to
empathize more deeply and reflect on the scale of their ordeal.
 

The Irish Famine is not only a historical tragedy but also a warning. Shaped by
political failure, economic inequality, and indifference to human suffering, its lessons
remain urgent today. As we confront climate change, forced migration, war, and food
insecurity across the globe and within our own communities, this history reminds us
that choosing compassion over greed is essential if we are to break cycles of suffering
that continue to repeat themselves.