Facing Change
Philanthropy House and its exhibition may be closed due to COVID-19, but the EFC still strives to highlight the work of all members and bring to the fore the excellent work being conducted by foundations across Europe.
To this end we have brought our latest exhibition, Facing Change online.
The exhibition is still available to view to exterior visitors of Philanthropy House.
The ‘Facing Change’ exhibition is on display in Philanthropy House from the 16 January until June 2020. The exhibition captures the real-life changes experienced by those who have been supported by projects funded through the Government of Ireland and Genio over the past decade.
It features 10 portraits and 10 films of inspiring people from the four corners of Ireland, from a variety of backgrounds and across ages and genders. They have all been supported to overcome personal challenges related to mental health, disability, homelessness and dementia and to have more control over their own lives and live in the community.
Genio and the Government of Ireland
The exhibition marks 10 years of collaboration between the Government of Ireland and Genio, to reform social services and bring about positive change in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
Genio is a non-profit organisation established to assist Government to increase cost-effective personalisation of social services. The hallmark of their work is ensuring that the voice of the person using services is front and centre at every level of service design and delivery. This work has been supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies and is now being sustained by Government. In the last 10 years Genio have helped to facilitate change and improvements for over 8,500 people across disability, mental health, dementia and homelessness services.
Photographer
Genio commissioned Ruth Medjber for this exhibition. She worked with each person to identify a location for the portrait that is meaningful to them and, where possible, provided them with a remote-controlled trigger which enabled them to have as much agency over the process as possible and take their own picture.
Ruth was born in Marino, Dublin to Irish/Algerian parents. Her work has been exhibited extensively in Ireland as well as Internationally. She works freelance from her studios in London and Dublin. Her photography is featured in the likes of Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, The NME, Rolling Stone, Rock Sound, Terrorizer and Classic Rock among others. Her portfolio includes Metallica, Beyoncé, Madonna, Muse, Green Day, Jay-Z and many more.
Short films
Genio strives to capture people’s stories from their own perspectives as well as that of their families, friends and supporters. Each film is about 1min 30 seconds and profiles inspiring people and their families with disabilities, mental health difficulties and dementia from across Ireland. The films were produced for Genio by Sam Whelan-Curtin and Fiona Murphy, with footage by Myles Shelly.
The film captures the stories of Paul Walsh, Bernie Fox, Joe Quinn, Mark O’Brien, Tony Quinn, Irene Dunne, David Doyle, Annie Glynn, John Healy and Carmel Gallagher.