The Everyday Objects Transformed by the Conflict exhibition will be open at 38 Queen Street from 11am to 4pm on Saturday, 21 June for the Day of Reflection.  This is the 8th year that the Day is being marked.

Everyone is welcome to come and use the space for reflection.

The exhibition brings together many views and experiences of the recent conflict in and about Northern Ireland.  It reveals both unique and everyday stories through a range of loaned objects and their accompanying labels, all written in the words of those who own them.

The exhibition was planned and developed through an extensive consultation process, and is the pilot project of the Living Memorial Museum Sub Group of Healing Through Remembering.

Around the corner from the Everyday Objects exhibition, the Linenhall Library will also be open for the Day from 11am to 3pm.  Throughout the day, guest speakers will do readings and DVDs of various Healing Through Remembering projects will be viewed.

Various Day of Reflection activities are also being organised by different groups and organisations across Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Great Britain.  For a list of these activities and other ideas about how to mark the Day, please visit dayofreflection.com.

If you or your group is marking the day and would like to publicise it, please email Sarah at projectcoord@healingthroughremembering.org.

Why 21 June?

Research to find a suitable date on which to hold a Day of Reflection revealed that there is no day in the calendar year that is not the anniversary of the death of at least one person who died as a direct result of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland.

21 June, the longest day of the year, was chosen as it is a symbolically important day because of the ebbing relationship between the hours of dark and light – a symbol of the pain and hope in our society.

It is a day that is forward-looking and backward-looking at the same time. It represents a pause in the cycle of nature, a moment to reflect.  Furthermore, the day’s significance is related to a naturally occurring event, and nature itself makes no distinction of race, creed or political perspective.