Dunnes strikers’ portraits move to Hugh Lane

BACK in 1984, Dunnes Stores workers decided not to handle any South African goods in protest against that country’s apartheid regime at the time.

A strike that lasted almost three years began and it resonated with many Dubliners who supported the action and refused to pass picket lines.

The brave workers helped spread the anti-apartheid message and eventually our Government banned South African goods from being sold in Ireland.

When Nelson Mandela met the workers in Dublin in 1990 he said their stand helped keep him during his time in prison.

A number of the workers attended the former South African leader’s funeral when he died in 2013.

In 2007 artist Garrett Phelan created a work of 11 portraits of the Dunnes Strikers and the collection has now been acquired by the Hugh Lane Gallery.

At 11am on April 20 the gallery is hosting a ‘Coffee Conversation’ during which participants are invited to join curators and guest speakers followed by tea or coffee in the gallery café. Entry is €5.

The portrait project was originally created as part of a group show curated by Patrick T Murphy for the Iziko South African National Gallery in South Africa.