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FIT KNIT Rebecca Marsden is a Knitwear Designer b
ased in the West of Ireland. On her Insta, she tells us of her loves; “design, aerial dance, foodie and outdoorsy sort.” Her zesty activewear creations come from the circular school of knit which Wiki tells us is “knitting in the round”. Rebecca is also a recent recipient of a Future Makers award in which the judges commended her by saying, “The contemporary styling had a life and energy that gave confidence that she knows her target market and how to stand out in a highly competitive field. Truly a breath of fresh air.” Breathe in. @rebeccakmarsden Tolka about it… Tolka is a new biannual literary journal of non-fiction: publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between. Its first issue lands on May 27 and features contributions from Rob Doyle, Dasom Yang and Liadan Ní Chuinn. €11, tolkajournal.org THE 8TH “The many have taken the abortion issue out of the hands of the few,” was the headline on Miriam Lord’s Irish Times synopsis on the day after the Repeal the 8th referendum on May 25, 2018, in which we voted in favour of repealing by 67% to 33%. She was right. Rosaries were taken off ovaries and women finally reclaimed their bodies and reproductive rights. It was a milestone moment. The 8th is a fantastic, heartfelt, documentary of the campaign directed by the trio of Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O’Boyle. It follows the campaign through the lens of long-term campaigner Ailbhe Smyth, and recent convert Andrea Horan, as well as a host of those who led the charge for change. However, one of its main strengths is acknowledging the ‘No’ campaign without feeling the need to denigrate it. This was a hallmark of the success of ‘Yes’ and John McGuirk’s (comms director with No), sneering suggestion that the Yes campaign was too ‘wishywashy’ and should have focused on the negative does a fine job in self-denigration of their ideal and tactics. The country had moved on to a higher ground of discourse. Watching The 8th it remains impossible not to tear up thinking of Savita or seeing those who came home to vote in arrivals. The 8th is released on demand on May 25 the8thfilm.com MOSAIC TRADITIONS IN ROSCOMMON Any news from The Rossies always nudges to the top of the ‘pay heed to’ pile (our editor’s dad is from there). Couple it with another love of ours – mosaics – and it’s a done deal elbow tap. Artist Lucy Earley alerted us to her recent work which explores ‘Geometric and Artistic Mosaics in the NorthWest of Ireland’, a tradition anchored by ‘the Italians’ Luciano De Paoli and Sergio Benedetti from Castle Street who worked in the John Crean’s Mosaics factory on the Racecourse Road. “This photobook is a record of my research and photography of these mosaics. My only hope is that these unique geometric and artistic designs will be protected and preserved for many years to come so that future generations can witness and appreciate their beauty.” Adorning shopfronts and pubs the breadth of the land, these thousands of tesserae represent vivid imagination through a form of accessible public art. lauraearleyart.com 5