Under The Banner Of

This workshop welcomes your participation in a collective conversation about values, patterns and choice. Over the likes of tea, seaweed and custard creams participants will identify the values they live by on the domestic scale and discuss how that relates to our shared wider communities on a national scale.

Together participants will use the framework of flags and banners to make ideas visible and imagine futures for ourselves.

This conversation continues a series of Under The Banner Of gatherings that have explored the visible and hidden patterns that affect our actions as individuals and as communities. The work was initiated in 2016 in response to 1916 commemorations of the founding of Ireland as a republic and a surge in political polarisation and alienation across the globe. In the midst of increasing tension about what the Irish flag stands for, this event offers space to reckon with the state of our values and articulate potential futures.

Bio Mary Jo Gilligan (born 1984). Typically site specific and participatory, Mary Jo's practice is influenced by interests in community, somatic practice and relational processes. Her work manifests as workshops, live events, installations, writing and publishing that explore how we relate to environments, bodies, architecture, our inner worlds and each other. Recent work includes Pattern Recognition group show at Riverbank Arts Centre 2025 and Space Crafts project 2024–2026. Mary Jo collaborates with VISUAL Carlow Learning programme since 2022 on projects and workshops such as the weekly gathering Have A Gawk.

Tickets are free but must be booked. They can be booked online, in person or over the phone at Box Office. Wheelchair users and any group over 8 persons should book tickets directly through Box Office. If you book a ticket and cannot attend, please let us know so someone else can avail of the ticket. Further terms and conditions at visualcarlow.ie/visit/booking-information.