Katie Nolan, in collaboration with local women and Ukrainian refugees based in Redbarn, Youghal, commissioned by Greywood Arts for the 2023 May Sunday Festival & Art Trail. 

This project was inspired by The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben, which proclaims that trees are sentient and communal, intelligent, resourceful and generous. Combining the yellow colour of May flowers alongside red to represent the Bealtaine bonfires, the group used the labour intensive process of layers of wax resist dyeing on cotton, to make these banners. Emblematic of mycorrhiza, the symbiotic underground network and support system that exists between plants and fungi, we have employed the sgraffito and crackle techniques in batik as an allegory for gestures of support among humanity in times of crisis. Each participant also created their own individual Batik piece, inspired by native plants and trees in Ireland and Ukraine.