ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 28th May 2025

Important Irish Art | 28 March 2025 www.adams.ie 31 19 ROWAN GILLESPIE (B. 1953) Convict Woman Bronze, 47cm (h) (18½’’) Edition 1/9 Signed and dated 2015 € 8,000 - 12,000 Based on one of the life size bronze figures unveiled in Hobart, Tazmania in 2017 and known as the Footsteps Towards Freedom statues, Convict Woman represents the 13,000 convict women and over 2,000 of their children who were transported to Van Diemen’s Land. Upon arrival, the women were confined in institutions like the Cas- cades Female Factory, while their children were separated from them and sent to the harsh Orphan Schools in New Town—nearly 6,000 children passed through these schools between 1828 and 1879. These women endured the trauma of forced exile, and many children faced institutional life from an early age, often before reaching the colony. Families were torn apart by systemic rules, death, and desertion, with many mothers and children never reunited. Rowan Gillespie has created bronze memorials to honour the suffering of these women, many of whom faced abuse, separation from children, and dehumanising treatment upon arrival. Drawing on colonial records and personal encounters with descendants, Gillespie connected deeply with their stories, using modern-day relatives as models to restore dignity to those once commodified. The project which culminated in an unveiling by President Michael D. Higgins in 2017, confronted this inhumane historical trauma and finally replaced the shame of convict ancestry with pride.