The Irish Hunger Memorial was created by architect Brian Tolle and landscape designer Gail Wittwer-Laird. They envisioned the hilly landscape of rural Ireland and transferred it to the flat NYC Financial District through the ingenious use of stone pillars and concrete overhangs.

Its main purpose is to remind viewers of the experiences of many Irish farmers in the Great Famine of Ireland, and that purpose is evident in the design of the structure. The viewer sees what the impoverished farmer sees.

The elevated concrete platform holds the cottage, grassy hill, path and stones present in that era. The pillars that hold up the platform are striped with backlit words that tell the tales of all the survivors of the Famine. The structure provides a view of the Statue of Liberty beyond the treetops–a symbol of an Irish potato farmer’s sight on freedom.

The words that wrap around the pillars tell powerful stories of the suffering that the Irish went through so they cannot forget: The viewer reads about the horrific events of the Famine and feels what the impoverished farmer feels.

Mr. William Gregory, MP rose to propose the following Clause: And be it further Enacted, That no person who shall be in the occupation, whether under lease or agreement, or as Tenant-at-will, or from year to year, or in any other matter whatsoever, of any land of greater extent than the quarter of a statute acre, shall be deemed and taken to be a destitute poor person under the provision of this Act, or of any former Act of Parliament; nor shall it be lawful for any board of guardians to grant any relief whatever in or out of the workhouse, to any such occupier, his wife, or children.
The Poor Relief Bill: The Gregory Clause. House of Commons. 29 March 1847

When paraphrased, this Act of Parliament says, ‘No one who has more than 0.25 acres of land can be considered a poor person and no one is permitted to help this person in any way whatsoever.’ That is both disgusting and memorable.

This memorial impales the viewer’s senses with sights and words that make him see if he hasn’t yet seen and makes him remember while he hasn’t completely forgotten the horrors of the Great Famine. It is art just as poems and memorials about 9/11 are art, maybe even more so because of the magnitude of the tragedy it describes.