Moate-born artist invited to feature in Sligo exhibition

A Westmeath-born artist who moved to England as a child is currently exhibiting his artwork in The Model Art Gallery in Sligo.

Tommy Rattigan, who is originally from the Clara Road in Moate, is also a Sunday Times-bestselling author, poet and songwriter, perhaps best known for his first book, ‘1963: A Slice of Bread and Jam’. In this autobiography, which was published in 2017, Tommy described a year of living in Hulme, Manchester, including an unforgettable childhood encounter with, and narrow escape from, the infamous 'Moors murderers' Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

His second biography, 'Boy Number 26’, described his experience of sexual abuse while in the care of the authorities in Manchester and Liverpool.

While his books take his readers back on an emotionally charged rollercoaster ride as he revisits childhood memories full of pranks, cruelty, and laughter, Tommy said he has been surprised by the attention he is now receiving for his works of art, calling himself “an accidental artist”.

Many of his pieces feature images of Manchester street scenes, people who had some impact on his life, and images prompted by abuses committed in Catholic institutions in Ireland and the UK.

Some of these paintings feature in the film documentary, ‘Crass: The Sound of Free Speech’, directed by Brandon Spivey, which has been shown in many European cities and most recently in New York, with a further viewing planned for Australia in a few weeks.

The piece of Tommy's artwork on show in Sligo is titled 'The Blessing', and is part of the Bafushia exhibition which is continuing until September 28.

According to the Model Arts Centre, the exhibition “consists of contemporary artists who share heritage within the Travelling community”.

Tommy said, “I am proud to have been invited by the Model art gallery to showcase a piece of my work.

"More so because the gallery curator did not shy away from the subject matter of my work, instead embracing it as an important part of Ireland's history, despite the fact that many institutions in Ireland are afraid to confront their past and apologise for the terrible abuses carried out on the children in their care.”

Tommy visited Ireland to view the exhibition in Sligo, and also took time to visit his home place in Westmeath.

"My trip to Ireland took me to Moate, where I had once lived, calling in at the local library and former courthouse in my effort to seek more information on my family history, to no avail," he said.

He then went to Tuam, where he left his own memorial at the site where 796 young children were buried without any burial records.

As a tribute to these children, Tommy pinned a verse from a song he wrote about them to the monument in place at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam.

Tommy also recounted how he was shown some old newspaper articles about his family by the host of the accommodation in which he was staying in Sligo.

The articles were from 1958 and related to court cases concerning the Rattigan children when they were made wards of the court. He said he “was dumbstruck to find that the case was about my own family”.

Tommy said these articles deeply affected him, particularly when he realised he had “stood in the former courthouse in Moate, seeking out information about my family, when in fact this was the place which had sealed my fate and that of my siblings”.

“I was ten months old at the time and was very ill with the measles. Separated from the rest of my siblings, I ended up in an industrial school in Ballinasloe until I was 6 years old,” he said.

Tommy said he still remembers the day when he was told he was going back to his father, which left him dumbfounded at first, as he was not even aware he had a father. In addition, he was introduced to another boy of another age group he had often seen playing, and was told this was his brother.

He said this was the “harsh reality” of these institutions at the time. “They kept families separated from each other, especially if they were from Gypsy communities”.

Tommy is now based in Margate, Kent, on the south coast of the UK. He said he is now working on the final installment of his biographies, which will be called ‘In The Name Of The Father and of the Nun’.

He is also preparing for a solo exhibition that will be called ‘Echoes of a Childhood Passed’. The exhibition will take place in Sunderland, UK, in November, but Tommy is planning for further showings in other locations in the UK and Ireland once sponsorship and galleries are finalised.