7.5km of Thread Was Used To Make This Tapestry of Ireland
7.5km of Thread Was Used To Make This Tapestry of Ireland
On the 13th of August, a live gallery event will let let you walk right around the piece and get up close to Eileen McNulty’s work. Grab your tickets here.
Irish textile artist Eileen McNulty has just created something pretty special. By dedicating 637 hours of work, using 48 different kinds of fabric and 7.562km of thread, McNulty has finished a 3m by 1m hand stitched tapestry of everyday Irish life. The piece also features over 50 individual scenes drawn from history and Ireland’s natural landscape.
The tapestry is is something you have to see in person to get up close to all the fine details and Easter eggs all over the piece. So when Škoda asked us to help put on an exhibition for the piece, we knew we had to get involved. The car brand commissioned the piece as part of a new campaign celebrating its place in Irish life, working around their theme “We’re all woven into the fabric of Ireland.”
The tapestry also commemorates some of Škoda’s connections to Ireland. For the past 10 years, Škoda Ireland has sponsored the Škoda Tour de Conamara cycling event in Clifden, a connection which dates back to Škoda’s origins as a bicycle manufacturer.
The tapestry also features the Pope waving from a Škoda Rapid, commemorating his visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families in 2018, when the Škoda Rapid was chosen as his official vehicle.
On the 13th of August, from 7pm-9pm, we are hosting a live gallery event at our G.A.S HQ on 34 Pearse Street. On the night, you will be able to walk right around the piece and get up close to the tapestry and there’ll be drinks and stories told about the work.
“My favourite detail in the tapestry is probably Newgrange”, McNulty told District. “It feels closest to the style of work I usually create, as it connects with the folklore, history, and old ways of thinking that have always inspired me.
The tapestry runs through dozens of moments of Irish life, both old and new: Emerald Park, a dolmen, village life and farming, the west coast landscape and its lighthouses, the Mourne Mountains, Dublin city and Lough Neagh sit alongside more current scenes like the housing crisis, solar and wind power, EV charging, modernising infrastructure and the morning commute.
Tickets are very limited, make sure to grab yours here.
