The Hawk Against the Dove - A Powerful New Exhibition Confronting Addiction in Small Town Ireland
14th July 2025: The Hawk Against the Dove, a deeply moving collaboration between Antoinette Foley and James Mahon, premieres this Saturday, 19th July, in Art House Athy, 42A Leinster Street.
This powerful collaborative photography exhibition offers an unflinching portrait of addiction, resilience, and redemption in rural Ireland. Once associated primarily with urban centres, drug addiction has increasingly taken root in small towns and rural communities. The Hawk Against the Dove traces this shift through the lived experience of Antoinette Foley, whose personal journey lays bare the often-invisible cost of substance abuse in towns like Athy.
Born into a Traveller family, Antoinette’s life spirals following teenage love, heartbreak, and the trauma of family separation. Her descent into addiction is chronicled with raw honesty, from the streets of Athy to the banks of the River Barrow. Yet, at the heart of this story is not only pain, but a fragile, persistent hope – the memory of the girl she once was, and the future she still dares to imagine.
Blending documentary insight with poetic reflection, The Hawk Against the Dove is both a personal and political statement. It confronts the weight of judgment placed on women, Travellers, and addicts, while affirming the power of storytelling as a path to healing and change. This timely and resonant work invites audiences to bear witness – not only to struggle, but to survival.
All are welcome to the opening of this exhibition, in the company of acclaimed Athy photographer John Minihan, at Art House Athy, Saturday 19th July, at 3.30pm.
The exhibition is supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service and Creative Places Athy.
For further details on The Hawk Against the Dove exhibition, contact Anthony Haughey, Director of Art House Athy, by email at haughey.anthony@gmail.com or via Instagram & Facebook: art.house.athy.2025
