D. Meimaroglou uses secondary speech to reassign meaning to the fragments of memory – visual and acoustic footage – thus limiting the visible processing of primary material. The manner in which she entwines the individual and the collective sheds light on the unseen aspects of History exploring and reconstituting the spirit of the time through a dramatically timely and humanistic glance.

Dr. Syrago Tsiara
January 2008

Annette McGavigan
A personal story becomes Ηistory

Annette McGavigan, a fourteen-year-old school girl, was shot dead in cold blood by British soldiers while returning home from school on 6 September 1971 in Derry (Northern Ireland). A chance meeting with one of the victim’s brothers in Athens about five years ago drew my attention and triggered my research.
Snapshots, witness-testimonies and other evidence validating Annette’s death brought to the surface images and moments of her existence.
Her name and memory are still alive today in the minds of the inhabitants of Derry in the form of a huge mural in the historical centre of the city (Bogside), perhaps confirming the belief that nothing can disturb the course of History; not even the persistent and long efforts to alter the scene of the dramatic events that began in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland. My trip to Derry (November 2007) was necessary in order to familiarise myself with the space, environment and people that were closely linked to Annette McGavigan.
My installation consists of a double video screening where the past alternates with the present.
The material was gathered from the footage of a television crew that happened to be at the scene of the crime, and from recent video footage I shot during my trip to Derry. The voice-off features the voices of Annette’s relatives. The black box reveals the power of this story which today, 36 years later, remains alive in the conscience of all.

Despina Meimaroglou
January 2008