Visual artists Helen Delany and Brenda Aherne (AKA Electronic Sheep) have created a new artwork Notifications Off which aims to open up a conversation around mental health awareness.
The knitted Tapestry focuses on the positive and depicts places, people and objects that bring happiness, particularly in times of sadness. It also portrays activities that improve mental health and day-to-day life. It is a colourful, fun, joyous, surreal art piece.
The work weaves in a range of people including artists and cultural figures who have kindly contributed to its creation – Gavin Friday, Róisín Murphy, Aisling Bea, Ben Tomoka and Bamboo Westwood, Vince Power, Dylan Philips and Laura Whitmore. A year in the making, the textile is a hybrid of pencil/digital drawings executed in the artists’ signature style.
Commissioned by First Fortnight and the Arts Council of Ireland it will launch at Project Arts Centre as part of the First Fortnight Festival. The Tapestry installation will also be shown in Art Galleries in London and Paris in 2023