Despite being separated by nearly 4,000 miles of ocean, Antigua and Barbuda and the Republic of Ireland share a complicated yet common history — shaped by colonisation, migration, and resilience.
According to Antigua.news, Ireland's Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda, John Concannon, is leading a delegation of musicians, dancers, and historians this week to open Entangled Islands – Ireland and the Caribbean as the inaugural exhibition of the newly renovated Government House.
As much of the Global North continues to reckon with its history of slavery, Ireland is among those willing to tell its own story in full — one that includes toiling the soil as indentured labourers, but also one of holding the whip. That tangled inheritance lies at the heart of the exhibition and the week-long programme of events.
Ambassador Concannon, speaking to Antigua.news, framed the cultural engagements as part of a broader deepening of Irish-Caribbean relations. He was accompanied by Shane Ryan, Director of Ireland's Office for the Caribbean, who noted that the exhibition's arrival in Antigua followed a series of personal encounters with Governor General Sir Rodney Williams and Lady Sandra Williams.
The exhibition was developed by EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin and traces four centuries of connection between Ireland and the Caribbean. It charts stories ranging from Irish indentured labourers and Irish enslavers to poets, abolitionists, and journalists. The exhibition previously showed in Barbados before travelling to Antigua.
Dr Catherine Healy, curator of Entangled Islands, will accompany the delegation on school visits throughout the week, including to ABICE on Monday morning, bringing the history directly to students and faculty.
