Many young girls grow up with a dollhouse — a space of imagination, storytelling, and domestic familiarity. By drawing on this shared cultural memory, the installation invites audiences to play and establish an emotional connection with the women whose histories it explores.

This dollhouse invites you to engage with both the distinct and the shared aspects of the experiences of Irish women in Monto and in the Magdalene Laundries. Montgomery Street (aka Monto) was known as the largest red-light district in Europe in the 19th Century until its closure by the Legion of Mary in 1925. The first Magdalene Laundry opened in 1765, and more appeared in the 20th century until the last one closed in 1998. The Laundries were implemented to reform women who had ‘fallen’ or became pregnant out of wedlock.

These two events had a brief crossing in Irish history. However, their connection goes a lot deeper. The dollhouse and website explore similarities in experience at Monto and the Magdalene Laundries - such as ‘bobbing’ of hair, women controlling other women, and community care. There are differences through the links, for example, with the Catholic Church. The Church purposefully avoided connection to Monto, while exercising significant control over the women within the Laundries. 

You are invited to explore and make connections by playing with the objects in the dollhouse.  How would you envision the rooms?

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