Hannah Peel

Hannah is a composer, arranger and musician. I visited her studio in Bangor and we talked about the electronic side to her music; synths, programming, circuits, but also the physicality of playing the piano, arranging an orchestra, working with musicians.

The flag had to be a combination of the controlled, programmed, grid-like system but alongside the organic, flowing nature of how she works. Hannah lives by the sea and nature is so important to her. In the interview she says “What I always try to put across in my music is that connection between nature and music. The Organic development and things that come out of nowhere”.

I created patterns from photos I took at the beach in Bangor and combined them with diagrams of her synth manuals. “..putting landscapes and things that feel quite biological, as well as the scientific mapping side. It’s really beautiful” - Hannah

Once I had designed the overall print, it decided that it needed layers to appear more three dimensional. I remembered last time I saw Hannah perform she was playing her music box, which had punched-out holes on the paper that feeds through.

I cut holes in the fabric to reveal the patterns underneath. It was important to find a fabric that could hold the screen printed designs but also be transparent enough to show the layer behind. It took a few trials.

In the interview Hannah says “As an artist you’re not just one thing. You are multiple things. And there’s always a gateway or hole into the next thing. And also a bit like the music boxes with the punched-out holes”

Oona Doherty

Oona is a dance artist and choreographer. In the interview she said
‘when Lily rang me in the lockdown, it was more like, let’s have a bit of craic with it. I was looking at the record covers for Kneecap and Rubberbandits and all the kind of vibe. Taking the piss, a bit. So if you’re gonna make me a flag, let’s have loads of sex, and drugs and colour. Like a really good Saturday night in Belfast’

We had so much fun coming up with the design, working out how we could get an orgy on the flag, a millie on a tiger, a smick on a dragon, balaclavas... she wanted politicians practicing BDSM...

Oona says ‘I think homophobic people will be annoyed at that flag. Strongly religious people might be offended by it. Because this country has repressed the body for a long time’

I used textile vinyl to print the design and each piece is cut out individually and placed by hand like a big crazy mosaic. I chose neon colours that give the psychedelic/ acid-trip feel that Oona wanted. I love that the sun is smoking a massive spliff, and the holographic flowers have eyes. Oona wanted it to feel like a sunny day in Belfast when everyone has a carryout and sat in Botanic Gardens.

Siofra Caherty

Next is Síofra Caherty, ‘Jump The Hedges’ a sustainable designer based in Belfast. She uses the waste tarpaulins from the side of lorries to make yoga bags, bum bags and stash bags.

Siofra is from Armagh and we decided to replicate an image of Slieve Gullion, her favorite mountain which holds the highest cairn in Ireland. The imagery of the flag was inspired by Norman Wilkinson’s tourism posters of Ireland. We made the flag from an old paddling pool, old coal sacks and the animal feed bags used on farms. So everything was repurposed from waste.

The Irish line ‘Níl ach domhain amháin again’ (we only have one world) was inspired by a banner at a climate change demonstration in Dublin.

In the interview Síofra says ‘The way the claddagh is coming around the mountain is class. I liked the idea of it being an advertisement almost. I felt like it was advertising me and my feelings’

Her work can be found here

KWA Daniels

Kwa is a promoter and founder of Bounce Culture - an organisation based in music, events, consultancy work. Kwa summed it up by saying ‘we bring people together and we enable happiness. Whether we’re behind decks, involved in different courses and media, podcasts.. we want people to come away from us thinking, I feel great’

When I first chatted to Kwa he discussed the importance of the black star, the centre of the Ghana flag. ‘Even though I was born in London and I’m living here (Belfast), the culture that I was brought up in was very much Ghanaian.’

He also talked about aesthetics of the album covers for A Tribe Called Quest, and posters from Bounce Culture nights as inspirations for his flag. Once we decided the flag would have a central black star, Kwa wanted lots of other coloured stars connecting to the centre. Strips of kente cloth create the pathways between the stars.

In the interview Kwa says ‘The interconnected bit is important. Because I suppose from that star that represents the Ghanaian people and the continents of Africa. I felt that in terms of culture and arts-based activity and culture, it started in Africa. It threads all around the world and the kente represents the different tribes from Africa. Taking the art and culture outwards’.

I had fun choosing fabrics and placing the stars on the flag. Each one is hand embroidered or beaded. Even though the shapes are simple I wanted each one to have an individual element.