A large ‘1916 Commemorative Stained Glass Mural’ by artist Peadar Lamb was unveiled in Carlow County Museum. This lasting legacy of the Carlow Ireland 2016 commemorations was commissioned by Carlow County Council through its Public Art Working Group and coordinated through the Carlow Ireland 2016 Committee. This innovative and unique contemporary stained glass mural illustrates a Carlow narrative showing key Carlow figures and the role they played in 1916.
The commission depicts some of the key Carlow figures from the 1916 Rising: Micheál O’Hanrahan who grew up on Tullow Street was executed for his role in 1916, and is representative of his family who were immersed in the republican tradition. Nurse Margaret Kehoe from Leighlinbridge who lost her life on Easter Monday 1916 while tending the wounded in the South Dublin Union. She is depicted cradling the wounded rebel Dan McCarthy who survived the Rising and they are almost like a mother/Madonna and child or ‘Pieta’. Father Albert Bibby OFM Cap, from Bagenalstown ministered too many of the rebel prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol and was a link between then and their families. Thomas Traynor, from Tullow, who fought in the 1916 Rising was executed in April 1921 during the War of Independence. He is depicted surrounded by his ten children.
The piece is rich in symbolism including an image of a large bullet and a bicycle. The bullet represents the power of the well-armed British Empire while the bicycle represents the ill-equipped Irish Revolutionaries, a David v Goliath situation. The panel is framed with a strong border open on the far right representing that history is always moving forward and also depicted by a blueprint of the Carlow Sugar Factory from 1926.
Image/Source | carlow.ie
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