Common Threads

21 August – 13 September 

 

The second edition of the Northern Ireland Linen Biennale’s headline group exhibition, where flax and linen—whether as story, medium, or substrate—serve as the common thread across a range of fine and applied art practices.  Curated by artist and creative producer Meadhbh McIlgorm, the exhibition celebrates the slow, considered, and skilful labour of artist-makers. A theme of weaving runs through much of the work, highlighting interdependence over fragmentation: as in a weave, no thread stands alone. Instead, something is formed collectively through a series of crossovers and junctions. Weaving echoes life—our common ground, shared heritage, and collective material future are all interwoven with the politics of fibre and fabric.

 

Participating artists:

Helen O’Hare & Wilma Kirkpatrick

Heidi McKenzie (Canada) 

Zoe Gibson 

Lucy Moore (RoI)

Maya Todd

Jude Fenton 

Margaret B. Russell (USA)

Andrea Dickson 

Sharon Adams 

Karen Hamilton 

Kathy Kirwan (RoI) 

Alison Pascoe 

Emily McIlwaine 

Claudia Rose

 

Curator's Note

‘Here textiles become vessels of memory, place, and process. Drawing colour and material directly from the land, the works pay tribute to our rich textile heritage while reimagining its relevance for the present. Natural dyes evoke the tones of our fields, hedgerows, and even the red-brick terraces of Victorian industry. Handwoven wraps, salvaged frames, upcycled cloth, and revived skills reflect both ecological sensitivity and deep material care.

 

Threads serve as carriers of personal history, preserving memory, processing chronic pain, and reconnecting to home, both ancestral and present. At the same time, they extend into collective memory through community projects, shared skills, and stories passed hand to hand.

 

Cloth is universally relatable. Each piece in Common Threads transforms fibres into reflection on what we inherit, what we create, and what we might leave behind.’

Meadhbh McIlgorm