The walls of the London Irish Centre have been filled with snapshots from generations of the Irish in England, as we launch the “Photo Album of the Irish: England Edition” project.
Created in partnership with Photo Museum Ireland, this project records and celebrates the path of the Irish diaspora here, as reflected in their family photographs and albums. Profiling the moments that they chose to preserve – snippets of daily life, nights out, trips home and special occasions, reveals a new understanding of their experiences here, as they carved out a community away from home.
Their stories are now featured in a new photo book and exhibition, which launched at the Centre on Tuesday, 28 October, with relatives from our participating families in attendance.
This exhibition will run until January in our Hub Bar at the London Irish Centre.
About the project
Since 2014, Photo Museum Ireland have been collecting and scanning hundreds of family photographs, building a living digital archive spanning generations of Irish heritage. Originally drawing on families from across the island of Ireland, in 2019 they began to look further afield, including the Irish diaspora in first the US, then Canada, and now the UK.
Last year, they began a tour of England, tracing the paths of Irish emigration through Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and eventually to our door here in Camden. Diaspora families brought hundreds of photographs to drop-in sessions with the Photo Museum Ireland team, where they were interviewed on their family history and had each photo digitally scanned for the archive.
Speaking about the launch, CEO of the London Irish Centre Seamus MacCormaic said:
“For 70 years now, the London Irish Centre has been a home away from home for the Irish in London. As generations built their lives in this city, our community has gathered here to mark each milestone, from dinner dances to christenings, weddings to wakes.
It’s our pleasure and privilege to host the “still-lifes” of just some of these stories here at the London Irish Centre, where they can be enjoyed by everyone who walks through our doors. We extend our deep thanks to partners Photo Museum Ireland for their work on this archive.”
Trish Lambe, CEO of the Photo Museum Ireland, added:
“The Photo Album of the Irish is a living, democratic archive — a testament to the power of photography to connect us across time and place.
“In gathering these family photographs from Irish communities in England, we’re preserving not just images, but the shared stories of migration, memory, and identity that define who we are. This exhibition and publication honour the family photographers whose pictures shaped the visual history of the Irish diaspora.”
The Photo Album of the Irish project is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Heritage Council of Ireland.
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