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`A crystal potato - what kind of an artwork is that? Niamh Ann Kelly wrote a book that offers a fresh look at the visual culture surrounding the cultural memory of the Irish Famine, caused by the 1845 potato blight. But beyond that, in doing so she sets an example of the difficult but important task of today's developing methodology of cultural analysis. This entails an integration of historical research and contemporary reflection on how the enduring memory of the disaster continues to affect us, and hence, requires thinking about the politics of food . In other words, it brings not only history to the present, but also art and other visual expressions together with political issues. This balanced interdisciplinary study of an event with many social and historical tentacles shows everyone how to do this'. - Mieke Bal, Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory, the University of Amsterdam and co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, `Visual representations of the Irish Famine range from surviving artefacts and contemporary drawings to modern sculptures and canvasses. Some are disturbingly graphic, others quite abstract; some accusatory, others merely prescriptive. Some were originally intended for private consumption, while more are located in commemorative public spaces. Some would have resonated more with people in the past than they do today-and vice versa. What motivated and motivates artists to depict the Famine? Which representations best convey the injustices and sufferings of the 1840s nowadays? In this pioneering study of the Famine in visual culture Niamh Ann Kelly provides us with a highly original and subtle discussion of the material at the centre of such questions. Her erudition and aesthetic understanding is supported by a wealth of illustrations, much of which will be unfamiliar even to specialists'. - Cormac O Grada, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University College Dublin and author of Famine: A Short History and Eating People is Wrong: Essays on the History and Future of Famine, `Niamh Ann Kelly's lavishly-illustrated book throws new light on the visual culture commemorative of hunger, famine and dispossession in mid-nineteenth century Ireland. Located within the discipline of international memorial studies, the text and images both challenge and extend our understanding of Famine history. Examining the visual culture since the time of the Famine until the present, Kelly asks, how do we view, experience and represent the past in the present? To what extend does the viewer insert themselves in this complex process. Is there such a thing as ethical spectatorship? Kelly's sophisticated yet sympathetic study of the `grievous history' of the Great Famine is a powerful addition to Famine history, Irish Studies, Memory Studies and Memorial Studies'. - Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, `Imagining the Great Irish Famine is a vital book on an important topic that continues to haunt the cultural imagination in Ireland and beyond. Addressing the interrelations between visual culture, memory, heritage, museums, and archives, Niamh Ann Kelly's interdisciplinary study offers uniquely perceptive insights into the deep history, contested meaning, and evolving afterlife of the Great Irish Famine.' - Christoph Lindner, Dean of the College of Design, University of Oregon, USA.

`A crystal potato - what kind of an artwork is that? Niamh Ann Kelly wrote a book that offers a fresh look at the visual culture surrounding the cultural memory of the Irish Famine, caused by the 1845 potato blight. But beyond that, in doing so she sets an example of the difficult but important task of today's developing methodology of cultural analysis. This entails an integration of historical research and contemporary reflection on how the enduring memory of the disaster continues to affect us, and hence, requires thinking about the politics of food . In other words, it brings not only history to the present, but also art and other visual expressions together with political issues. This balanced interdisciplinary study of an event with many social and historical tentacles shows everyone how to do this'. - Mieke Bal, Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory, the University of Amsterdam and co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, `Visual representations of the Irish Famine range from surviving artefacts and contemporary drawings to modern sculptures and canvasses. Some are disturbingly graphic, others quite abstract; some accusatory, others merely prescriptive. Some were originally intended for private consumption, while more are located in commemorative public spaces. Some would have resonated more with people in the past than they do today-and vice versa. What motivated and motivates artists to depict the Famine? Which representations best convey the injustices and sufferings of the 1840s nowadays? In this pioneering study of the Famine in visual culture Niamh Ann Kelly provides us with a highly original and subtle discussion of the material at the centre of such questions. Her erudition and aesthetic understanding is supported by a wealth of illustrations, much of which will be unfamiliar even to specialists'. - Cormac O Grada, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University College Dublin and author of Famine: A Short History and Eating People is Wrong: Essays on the History and Future of Famine, `Niamh Ann Kelly's lavishly-illustrated book throws new light on the visual culture commemorative of hunger, famine and dispossession in mid-nineteenth century Ireland. Located within the discipline of international memorial studies, the text and images both challenge and extend our understanding of Famine history. Examining the visual culture since the time of the Famine until the present, Kelly asks, how do we view, experience and represent the past in the present? To what extend does the viewer insert themselves in this complex process. Is there such a thing as ethical spectatorship? Kelly's sophisticated yet sympathetic study of the `grievous history' of the Great Famine is a powerful addition to Famine history, Irish Studies, Memory Studies and Memorial Studies'. - Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, `Imagining the Great Irish Famine is a vital book on an important topic that continues to haunt the cultural imagination in Ireland and beyond. Addressing the interrelations between visual culture, memory, heritage, museums, and archives, Niamh Ann Kelly's interdisciplinary study offers uniquely perceptive insights into the deep history, contested meaning, and evolving afterlife of the Great Irish Famine.' - Christoph Lindner, Dean of the College of Design, University of Oregon, USA, `Extensively researched and theoretically informed, Niamh Ann Kelly's illuminating study of visual representations of the Great Famine critically surveys the recycling of evocative recollections of dispossession, which run deep in Irish historical consciousness and have emotive universal resonances.' - Guy Beiner, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Niamh Ann Kelly combines detailed research, theory, and meticulous language to discuss the ‘grievous history’ and enduring legacy of the Irish famine and its impact on modern-day social and cultural concerns... the author’s scholarship and range of argument makes a noteworthy contribution to visual culture studies, trauma studies, famine studies, Irish studies, and art historical and historical studies. * The Irish Arts Review *

`A crystal potato - what kind of an artwork is that? Niamh Ann Kelly wrote a book that offers a fresh look at the visual culture surrounding the cultural memory of the Irish Famine, caused by the 1845 potato blight. But beyond that, in doing so she sets an example of the difficult but important task of today's developing methodology of cultural analysis. This entails an integration of historical research and contemporary reflection on how the enduring memory of the disaster continues to affect us, and hence, requires thinking about the politics of food . In other words, it brings not only history to the present, but also art and other visual expressions together with political issues. This balanced interdisciplinary study of an event with many social and historical tentacles shows everyone how to do this'. - Mieke Bal, Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory, the University of Amsterdam and co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis.

Author Information

Niamh Ann Kelly was born in Galway and is a lecturer in Visual Culture at the Dublin School of Creative Arts, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. At the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, she studied Fine Art Painting and the History of Art at BA level and the History of Art at MA level by research. She received her PhD at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam. She has published widely on her ongoing research interests of contemporary art, the history of art and commemorative visual cultures of monuments, museums and heritage practices.

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