Press Release
June 5, 2017 • 2 min read
“The reaction to the garden at Bloom has been truly amazing."
"GOAL and Oxfam Ireland’s award-winning garden that seeks to break down walls between people and offers a vision for a more inclusive world is looking for a new home, following its exhibition at this year’s Bloom Festival."
Titled ‘A World Beyond Walls’, the show garden was awarded a Gold Medal and ‘Best in Category’ for designers Niall Maxwell and Marina Andreeva and demonstrated the power of tearing down the barriers that separate people across the globe.
The garden was created from the blocks of a wall that kept people apart, providing a social space and communal seating area where they can now be brought together. A mirror at the centre of the old border wall delivered a message that the people on either side of the border wall are one and the same.
With Bloom finishing on Monday, June 5th, GOAL and Oxfam Ireland are now calling on local authorities, public spaces and buildings, politicians and public servants from across Ireland to get in touch with them if they wish to re-create this award-winning garden in their own city, town or village.
“The reaction to the garden at Bloom has been truly amazing,” said GOAL General Manager, Celine Fitzgerald. “The public really understood the concept behind the garden and the message that we were trying to deliver. There are times in our lives when it becomes even more necessary to remind people that we can achieve far more when we bring people of diverse backgrounds together, to work to achieve common objectives, as both GOAL and Oxfam do, around the world, every day. This is one such moment and people have really come on board with that message at Bloom.
Oxfam Ireland Chief Executive, Jim Clarken, says that the garden now deserves a wider audience, outside of Bloom. “There are now 63 borders where walls or fences separate neighbouring countries across the world, most of them within the European Union. This is one of the reasons why Oxfam and GOAL wanted to focus on a world beyond walls at Bloom. We wanted to take a stand against the division and barriers that can drive people apart.
“There is real strength in diversity – this is an important message to deliver and one that has resonated with people visiting the garden at the Bloom festival. We would like to see the garden live on and be re-created in a public space like a park or campus.”
For more information and/or to speak to Niall Maxwell, please contact Dave Williams at GOAL on 01 2809 779 or dwilliams@goal.ie
