DoubleTAKE raise their voice: We will not sit down and be quiet

“I THINK it’s really, really important for groups like the advocates to be raising their voice about the issues they’re experiencing,” remarks SDCC Cllr Alan Edge of the work of DoubleTAKE advocates.

Originally launched in Rathfarnham’s Pearse Museum in the Autumn of 2023, ‘We Will Not Sit Down and Be Quiet’ is an advocacy through the arts project in the form of a short film and photographic portrait installation.

It serves as a call to action and invites us to examine our own unconscious bias towards those who live with a disability and those who require support to thrive.

Established by Tallaght Community Arts in 2010, DoubleTAKE Supported Arts Studio is a professional artist’s studio based at Rua Red, South Dublin County Arts Centre.

It is dedicated to enabling people living with a disability to meet and integrate with other artists. The studio is home to 80 artist members and is staffed by 4 professional Artist Mentors.

Through ‘We Will Not Sit Down & Be Quiet’, the DoubleTAKE Advocates, many of whom have spent their entire lives living and working within Ireland’s disability care sector, are standing with power and speaking out.

They stand shoulder to shoulder to claim their human rights and respect and to request your solidarity.

They do this for themselves, their peers, those who can’t, and those who take their place.

The first leg of the 2025 tour took place on three campuses of TU Dublin throughout the month of March: Grangegorman in week 11, Blanchardstown in week 12, and Tallaght in week 13.

In each location, the installation was travelled to, constructed, and launched at an opening event and then remained in place for a week, open to the public.

Following on from that, the portraits and posters from the exhibition have been installed in Rua Red Cafe.

The DoubleTAKE advocates are proud of their work and pleased with the positive feedback from the public, the HSE, and politicians.

Cllr Edge thinks it’s vital for politicians to engage with advocates and “let them speak for themselves” instead of just talking about them.

But the advocates are not stopping there, as there are already plans in motion to continue and expand the project beyond where it stands currently.

Tallaght Community Arts will be announcing some major developments to that end in the near future.

‘We Will Not Sit Down & Be Quiet’ is available to view in Rua Red from April 1 to April 30.

Rua Red Cafe is open to the public Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm; be sure to check it out!