Our next stop is Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, USA.
The famine occurred in Ireland from 1845 to 1849 and had several causes: on the one hand, there was the ill-conceived economic policy in the UK, part of which Ireland was at the time, and on the other hand, the epidemic of a potato disease, the peasants' primary staple (which is why this event is sometimes called the Irish Potato Famine). Up to 1.5 million Irish people died, and the same amount emigrated. Overall, the population declined by almost a quarter.
These events are still part of the collective memory of Irish people in different countries. The American Irish created a museum to stimulate reflection and inspire the imagination to reflect on such a complex subject.
The museum's collection includes paintings by influential 19th-century artists and contemporary Irish artists. And if «classical» artwork documents hunger and its consequences, the works of authors of the 20 and 21 centuries, made in different techniques, invite us to reflect in different directions.