Honouring the power of human trust and connection, this exhibition is a song to cloth and to story. Icon, symbol, talisman, relic, portal, cure: cloth, imbued with meaning, is a carrier of story; a universal language, spoken without words. As people, made from a set of biological materials, we share the same internal patterning of cells and tissue structures. Using stains and fluorescent dyes, biomedical researchers have developed ways to see these patterns and structures hidden within us. Reimagined as fabric, they illustrate how we are all cut from the same cloth.

Cut From The Same Cloth strives to forge connections between UCD Conway Institute biomedical research scientists and women in minority communities in Ireland. The Patient Voice in Health Research initiative connects the human lived experience of illness to the study of disruptions in the internal patterns and structures within us.

The ‘Cut From The Same Cloth’ exhibition comprises a tapestry; research patterns printed on fabric; photographs by Anthony Hobbs of 36 pieces of fabric held in the hands of their owners; and short videos by Crannóg Media offering a window into the lives of 36 women who call Ireland home.