My work is in response to a burial site in my local community – Fermoy – marked in memory of “special babies”. The overgrown grave lies on the grounds of the town’s old workhouse, a section of which was used as accommodation for unmarried mothers and their children.

Today, most of the original workhouse has been demolished, and the forgotten grave is unkept. Despite strong calls made in the Dáil by local TDs, what was once known as the Nursery Rescue Society has never been investigated.

Through extensive archival research, photography, and the collection of natural material from the surroundings of the burial site, I reveal what little information remains about the Fermoy Nursery Rescue Society. My work creates a space of encounter for viewers to consider this neglected history – one that has been sitting, unacknowledged, on the doorsteps of countless communities, waiting for us to let it in.