‘Cut From the Same Cloth’; The Fabric of our Lives opens in Roscommon Arts Centre

Ursula Ledwith, presenter of the Arts Programme on community radio station RosFM, opened the final leg of the 2025 exhibition tour merging art, science, and community in Roscommon Arts Centre on 14 November.

Funded through Research Ireland, the multimedia exhibition entitled ‘Cut from the Same Cloth’ is an artist-led collaboration between biomedical researchers from UCD Conway Institute and women from minority communities across Ireland. The project explores a shared humanity through fabric stories.

Artist, Lorna Donlon worked with UCD Conway researchers to select representative microscopic images and data from their research and to reimagine them as printed fabric. 

Pictured (l-) are Majella Flanagan, Anna Doyle, Mary Margaret McDonagh and Maria Amosu, all of whom participated and are pictured with photographs of their fabrics. Photo: Brian Farrell

During 2024, Roscommon Arts Centre was the location for one of a series of ten gatherings in community settings around Ireland when women shared personal stories about fabrics significant to their cultural traditions, customs and lived experience. These ‘get-togethers’ allowed researchers to share the parallels between patterns in textiles and those seen at the cellular level in health research. Ursula Ledwith was one of ten women who took part in the Roscommon ‘get-together’ and she shared the fabric story of her favourite aunt, Aggie.

Lorna Donlon spent 12 months in UCD Conway Institute creating a handwoven tapestry inspired by these stories that bridges personal and scientific narratives through fabric and is complemented in the exhibition by research textiles, photographs by Anthony Hobbs and video narratives by Crannóg Media. Each fabric story is a doorway into the pattern of a person’s life or of their life’s work.

The tapestry includes a readable, embedded woven QR code that links to the digital version of the exhibition ((opens in a new window)https://cutfromthesamecloth.org/), marrying an ancient technique with a contemporary technology.

This project has enabled UCD Conway researchers to connect and engage with minority communities about research developments in health and understand how research can consider their community's needs.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition in Roscommon Arts Centre, Ursula Ledwith began with, “The first thing I want to say is ‘wow!’. I’ve noticed other people saying ‘wow!’ when they come into the exhibition.

“I took part in the Roscommon Get Together last year. I was going to talk about a piece of tapestry my mother had made but at the last minute, as I was leaving the house, I noticed my Auntie Aggie’s scarf hanging on the back of the door. I said, ‘come on so’ and I took that along and spoke about it instead. After the ‘get-together’, I saw a car just like the Riley my Auntie Aggie used to drive. It was as if she had come back to say, ’thank you for remembering me.’

"All of the people who we all remembered when we spoke about their fabrics at the get-togethers are also woven into this tapestry, as well as us. The fabric is the holder of the story”.

Pictured (l-r): Lorna Donlon and Ursula Ledwith at the exhibition opening in Roscommon Arts Centre. Photo: Brian Farrell  

Catherine Lee, Director of the Roscommon Arts Centre welcomed attendees to the exhibition while Winnie Stokes, a member of the Traveller community who also took part in the Roscommon ‘get-together’, sang a selection of traditional songs. 

Elaine Quinn, UCD Conway Institute Manager (Communications & Education) introduced the exhibition concept saying, “This exhibition has allowed us to start conversations with communities that we had never met before.  It allowed us to introduce ourselves and our work, to build trust and to find common ground. By working in partnership together, we can learn from each other to ensure that research is relevant and leads to better outcomes for patients”.

Pictured (l-r): Catherine Lee, Director, Roscommon Arts Centre, Lorna Donlon and Rhona McGrath, Roscommon County Council Arts Officer 

Prior to the exhibition opening, Elaine facilitated a discussion about the project with artist, Lorna Donlon; community participant, Maria Amosu; Emmanuelle Damiola Aiyegbusi, UCD Conway Institute PhD student; and (opens in a new window)Professor Siobhán McClean, Conway Fellow.

Maria Amosu from Nigeria and Ballaghaderreen spoke about the ceremonial Aso-Oke fabric used for her father’s funeral that she was unable to attend. This traditional hand-woven fabric worn for celebratory events in Yoruba culture in West Africa, was also the personal fabric that Emmanuelle Damiola Aiyegbusi spoke about. 

Emmanuelle described her research fabric depicted clumps of cells called embryoid bodies. These embryoid bodies release smaller cells that grow to become microglia. Microglia are immune cells in the brain and spinal cord. They are very important for studying how to treat spinal injuries and diseases in the brain and spine.

Siobhán McClean told the story behind a pair of fingerless gloves made by her sister Dearbhla, a very creative fabric crafter. Siobhán’s research group have discovered vaccines that target an antimicrobial resistant bacterial infection caused by a bug called Klebsiella. As part of this research, they produce and purify the vaccine candidates. 

Siobhán described the images of the gels on her research fabric that are used to analyse vaccines and show whether they have been produced correctly and are pure.  

The exhibition is open to the public in Roscommon Arts Centre until 20 December. Free entry. See website for details: (opens in a new window)https://roscommonartscentre.ie/event/cut-from-the-same-cloth-exhibition/