Asylum Archive: An Archive of Asylum and Direct Provision in Ireland

Asylum Archive is an interdisciplinary platform that visualises, historicises, memorialises and archives Direct Provision, a system of localities and sites where asylum seekers are being held, while in the process of seeking international protection. Asylum Archive (2007-2022) is an artefact of Direct Provision, the continuation of the history of Carceral Institutions in Ireland, where poor, marginalised, and undesired people have been incarcerated in institutions such as Magdalene Laundries, Borstals, Mother and Baby Homes, and Industrial Schools. Asylum Archive originally started as a coping mechanism while I was in the process of seeking refuge in Ireland; it is a political platform involving individuals who have experienced a sense of sociological and/or geographical displacement, memory loss, trauma, and violence. Asylum Archive offers an essential visual, informative, and educational perspective and, through its online presence, is accessible to future researchers and scholars who may wish to undertake a study of the conditions of asylum seekers in Ireland.