A collection of Irish iconography by renowned mosaic artist Mark Kennedy including works featuring George Best, Oscar Wilde, Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan, will be exhibited in cultural and creative venues throughout Manchester City Centre from March 1-31, named The Irish Nation.
Commissioned by Irish Mancunian, an organisation that curates cultural events of Irish interest for Manchester audiences, The Irish Nation has been transformed into a free-to-view art trail with the support of global art producer, Wild in Art, with each piece placed in a venue carefully selected to provide context to the piece.
Ten years in the making, the project began in 2015, when Mark Kennedy spontaneously created a piece of Samuel Beckett, a piece of work that awakened something within him, reaffirming his deep Irish roots. The stunning collection of original and previously unseen mosaics now portrays seventeen personalities from the worlds of literature, music, sport and history.
Singer Luke Kelly will be found at Hallé St Peter’s; Manchester United legend George Best at the National Football Museum; music icons Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan at New Century; poet, playwright and wit Oscar Wilde at Queer Lit; playwright Samuel Beckett at 53Two; and John F. Kennedy at the Science and Industry Museum in a nod to the part he played in the moon landings.
Sitting alongside the exhibition will be QR codes to take you straight to the website to learn more about the fascinating stories behind the art. Ground-breaking architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray, whose mosaic can be seen at Manchester Craft and Design Centre, was overlooked for a long time, as she worked in the male dominated Modernist movement, and boxing phenomenon Katie Taylor, whose portrait can be found at Koffee Pot, broke through the barriers to entry in boxing that meant she had start her career boxing as a boy and is now double World Champion.
Mosaic artist Mark Kennedy said: “My work for the last 30 years has been based on identity. My own identity and place of birth is the city of Manchester in the north-west of England, its social movements, politics, sport, film, music and television.
“When I was commissioned to create the Irish Nation series it felt like a natural extension of my work. The connections between Ireland and its people and the city of Manchester are utterly interwoven. Researching and undertaking this project over the last decade has been an education into Irish culture which has certainly enriched me.”
Manchester is a city with a long-established Irish connection, with an estimated 35% of the city’s population having some Irish ancestry, making it the perfect place to launch The Irish Nation.
Ray Boyle, Irish Mancunian, said: “In 2015 on a visit to Mark Kennedy’s studio, I saw he had created a mosaic of the playwright Samuel Beckett […] The idea of an Art trail came quickly and perfectly fitted our preferred narrative that this was public art, in keeping with Mark’s earlier work.”
All the artwork on the Irish Nation art trail and Manchester locations:
- Luke Kelly at Hallé St Peter’s
- Oscar Wilde at QueerLit
- Morrissey of The Smiths on 1st Floor at Smith’s Tribute in Afflecks
- Katie Taylor at Koffee Pot
- Eileen Gray at Manchester Craft and Design Centre
- Sinead O’Connor at New Century Hall
- Shane MacGowan at New Century Hall
- George Best at the National Football Museum
- Brendan Behan at the Royal Exchange Theatre
- Seamus Heaney at the Portico Library
- James Joyce at Manchester Central Library
- Constance Markievicz at the People’s History Museum
- John F. Kennedy at Manchester Science and Industry Museum
- Samuel Beckett at 53Two
- The Quiet Man at HOME
- Phil Lynott at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)
- Bridget O’Donnell (Famine Mother and her children) on the side of the Thirsty Scholar
The Irish Nation will be available to visit for free for the entire month of March in Manchester.