An audio-visual show produced by an Abbeyleix woman which looks at Ireland through the eyes of two black men living in the State opens at the Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, tomorrow.
The show, a mix of still photographs and recorded interviews with an Angolan barber who has set up business in Dublin's Stoneybatter and an African-American singer who hosts Dublin's Voodoo Lounge in Smithfield, will run for two weeks and may then transfer to Dublin.
Created by Ann-Marie Kelly, who is originally from Abbeyleix, Co Laois, and who is the presenter of the Today FM breakfast show, it presents a disturbing picture of the level of racism experienced by black people in the State.
Firenze from Angola has been assaulted several times while walking home from work. There is no way he will go near an Irish pub. Why? "Too much assault, too much problem," he said. The show is appropriately called "No Entry".
Marcus Valentine, the second interviewee, came to Ireland with the romantic idea of visiting "Ireland of the welcomes". He found this to be something of a misnomer.
"My perception of Irish people was that they had this gentle etiquette about them, that if they really liked you they would take you under their wing, but it turned out that this was nothing more than a veneer," he said.
Ms Kelly recorded the show over six-months. She hopes to take it to Dublin but says this will depend on the reaction to the show in Portlaoise.
"No Entry" runs at the Dunamaise Arts Centre from June 8th to 29th.