The Irish Diaspora Center (The Irish Diaspora Center)

Over the past decade, we have lost more than 400,000 people to suicide. That is enough people, each year, to fill Citizens Bank Park six times! The Irish Diaspora Center (IDC) is committed to raising awareness, sparking the conversation, and reducing the stigma of mental health issues that lead to suicidality, including depression, anxiety, and addiction. While that overall statistic is truly shocking, it hits on a very personal note for so many. 

Lights in the Darkness is a community-based art project for individuals and families impacted by suicide and mental health issues through sculpture building and exhibition of lantern figures. Workshops, where individuals and groups will build lantern sculptures in honor of someone lost to suicide or impacted by mental health, will be held throughout the region beginning the first week in September. Then on September 22, more than 100 life-size lantern sculptures will be placed on display at Dilworth Park at City Hall in Philadelphia. The impact of the workshops and the exhibit will not only help to bring healing to those involved but also raise awareness and strike up conversations for those experiencing the exhibit. 

Lights in the Darkness responds to those needs in significant and highly visible ways. The goals of this program are to:

- bring a voice to the epidemic of suicide and reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues including depression, addiction, grief, and suicidality

- offer a therapeutic art project and community of support to those impacted by suicide through sculpture build and display of the community of lantern figures

- raise funds for mental health programs in the community

Please join me in supporting Lights In the Darkness and showing your commitment to the conversation around mental health and reducing the stigma associated with suicide.

 

Together, we can make a difference! Donate today to help make this project possible!

 

$250 fully sponsors a figure for a loved one

$100 covers the cost of workshop time for one person

$50 covers materials cost for one figure

$25 covers the cost of transporting and storing one figure for the exhibit

Lights in the Darkness consists of a month-long community build project with six workshops taking place throughout the five-county Greater Philadelphia area. Each workshop will welcome families, friends, and community organizations that have been impacted by loss caused by suicide. Participants will work with Co. Mayo-based artist Tom Meskell to create life-size, wire sculptures covered in paper and varnish and lit from within. The sculptures will then be installed for an opening ceremony and reception scheduled for Thursday, September 22, 2022, to coincide with Suicide Awareness Month. The exhibit will take place at Dilworth Park at City Hall, Philadelphia. This poignant display of more than 100 lantern figures will light the night and create a highly impactful exhibition. 

 

 

   

Video is a sample of Tom Meskell's work for a project in Longford, Ireland