The Finnish Famine Exhibition

-The Finnish Famine-

   An Interview with Dr. Andrew Newby on his current exhibition at The Irish Workhouse Centre

How did this exhibition come about?

In 2012 I was pleased to receive an Academy of Finland Award to work on a five year project to compare the Irish and Finnish famines. This exhibition came out of that project. It travelled to Ireland to be displayed in The National Famine Museum at Strokestown but then migrated to the National University of Ireland, Galway. Just when I thought the exhibition had to return to Finland, I was delighted when the opportunity arose for it to be displayed at The Irish Workhouse Centre.

How did you get involved in researching the Finnish Famine?

I first heard about the Finnish Famine in 1997 from a Finnish Student. Being Irish and specifically a Mayo man, the topic of famine struck a chord with me. The fact that 1997 was the anniversary of Black ‘47 meant that famine research was already on the radar.

I visited Finland in ’98 and discovered a very different response to famine in terms of national identity. This fascinated me. The Finnish Famine is not widely talked about, and is seen as bringing the nation together; a high point of solidarity where there was no crime and everyone worked together. It was at such odds to discussions surrounding the Irish famine.

Contemporary photograph from the Finnish Famine

How come there is such a big difference in how the Finnish Famine is viewed?

The big factor is that they had Home Rule. There was no outside party to blame. Nature was held as entirely at fault, with a harsh frost bringing about the widespread damage to crops. It was held to be a blameless disaster. Even the mismanagement of relief is still not publicly acknowledged.

Another factor is that the Finnish population recovered quite quickly after their famine, and mass transatlantic emigration did not happen.

Who is the exhibition aimed at?

My hope is that someone with not a clue of Irish or Finnish history could walk in off the street and enjoy this exhibition. At the same time, because of the new research and rarely seen images, a seasoned historian would really enjoy it as well.

What is your favourite object in the exhibition?

Bark from the Scots Pine and traditional bark bread

Finding items for this exhibition was difficult but I knew I had to include tree bark from a Scots Pine. One of the often repeated statements about the Finnish Famine is the claim that people had to eat bark. This is true in a way, but they didn’t eat it straight off the trees! A material was gathered from the bark and ground into psyllium husk powder which was used to bulk out bread. I even managed to bring several loaves of handmade bark bread all the way from a farm in Finland which you can see at the exhibition. There have been examples of this bread lasting several decades.

What would you like people to take away from this exhibition?

For me, the exhibition in a nutshell is that even though there are big national differences between both famines, the experience on a local level was very similar. Finnish mass graves look remarkably and poignantly similar to ones in Ireland. They also had this idea that you had to work for aid. You can visit Finland and see famine roads! This tells me that it is easy to lose sight of individual experiences when researching national catastrophes. There are facts and figures which tell us ‘the big picture’ but the suffering of everyday people is the true story. The reality of starvation is just as horrifying, whether you’re in Ireland or Finland.

Illustration from a Swedish newspaper in 1867 depicting the effects of starvation in Sweden's Northern provinces, and showing how universal the imagery of famine can be

Elizabeth Carter