New York Famine Memorial

Oh my god. I wasn’t aware that it sat on a base, it looks like a giant Mattel Playorama for children.

“Yes folks, the Mattel Irish Famine game for kids aged 4-8.”

Oh sweet jesus – why not have life sized quiet man statues (no doubt being harassed by the Black n’ tans or some such) and be done with the whole thing

I was forced to visit this!

Some good ideas, especially the contrast between the west of Ireland grass field and the city but basically a failure.

Almost impossible to read the texts as the lettering is small and there is little contrast between the text and the background.

However, some of the visitors there that day found it moving. Not all had Irish connections or were Aran gansai NYC Irish.

Irish Disneyland comes to New York.

I had the misfortune to see this when in NYC a year ago – it was almost finished then, so what took them so long?

I could hardly believe my eyes. All it needs are leprechauns dotted about. A very serious subject, which could have been treated with enormous dignity and power, is turned into pure schlock. It needs a bit of ironic intervention by conceptual artists such as Jake and Dinos Chapman, I’d say.

When you think of how resonant such memorials can be – like the semi-underground memorial to the WW2 deported in Paris – this one hits an all-time low. Like something out of a garden festival.

Always thought the Vietnam memorial in Washington was a sombre tour-de-force