It all started with a chat at the United Nations in New York in 2019.
The then Irish Ambassador to the UN, Geraldine Byrne-Nason, told Melanie Lynch that the role of women in the Northern Ireland Peace Process was a key UN case study.
It sparked an idea to bring their stories to life.
Now four years and several cities later, Peace Heroines, the touring exhibition, has come full circle with a display launched in the lobby of UN headquarters.
"It's a monumental moment for the women of Northern Ireland that they are being recognised at the United Nations, as we build up to the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement," Melanie Lynch, of Herstory and the curator of the exhibition, told RTÉ News.
"I think it's testament to their ingenuity, their courage, their conviction. They are amazing role models for young girls but also for nations across the world," she said.
The 14 full-length banners feature stories, photographs and quotes of women from grassroots to government who fought for peace in Northern Ireland and beyond.
Prints of the nine colourful portraits by the artist FRIZ of Pat Hume, Bronagh Hinds, Eileen Weir, Susan McCrory, Saidie Patterson, Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, Anne Carr and Baroness May Blood take centre stage.
"It’s not that women get written out of history," reads a quote from Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. "They never get written in."
UN officials cite the role played by women in the Northern Ireland Peace Process as a leading example for other peace processes around the world.
"For the Secretary-General it is clear that the women of Northern Ireland were trailblazers and visionaries who put gender equality and integrated social development at the heart of the Good Friday agreement," a spokesperson for the Secretary General, António Guterres, told RTÉ News.
Without the active participation of women at the table and in civil society groups, "we cannot have peace that is sustainable and peace that lasts," he said.
The spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, added he was happy to see a panel for the Derry Girls among the exhibits, referring to one of his favourite TV shows.
As the week-long exhibition kicked off, the curator, Melanie Lynch told RTÉ News that her favourite story there was from Eileen Weir of the Shankill Women’s Centre.
On the day of the Good Friday Agreement when the handshakes of the men were featured on the front page of the newspapers, behind the scenes, the women from both sides of the political divide were hugging each other.
"And they had been hugging each other for decades," Ms Lynch told RTÉ News.
She expressed hope that the Peace Heroines exhibition would serve as an inspiration for the people of different nationalities who pass by it this week.
"When you look at our history it's almost like we're emerging out of a perpetual winter," she said.
"We've had famine, poverty, civil war, mass emigration - so many issues that nations around the world are dealing with today and yet we are emerging as a progressive, modern, inclusive society," she added.
"A beacon of hope for the world that it is possible to heal and transform beyond these very destructive historical narratives."
