Stigma Damages is an online resource researched, assembled and edited by artist Michele Horrigan. Initially funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, this website launched in September 2024 as part of Horrigan’s solo exhibition at The Model, Sligo. The platform will continue to investigate and research contexts of heavy industry in Ireland and elsewhere, with new podcasts, documents, archival material and a digital app to be made public in the coming year.
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The title of the project, Stigma Damages, is typically used as a legal term to describe suspected environmental contamination. Here, it additionally acts as a framework to map and uncover corporate greenwashing strategies of global extraction industries, and seek restorative justice for land and its people. The need for a heightened social awareness of these issues is a key motivation for Stigma Damages.
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The material presented on this website is additionally made available as an open resource for the case study of heavy industry in Junior Cycle Geography, as taught in the Irish educational curriculum.

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