Beacons at Bealtaine

Created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the accession of 10 new Member States to the EU, this project was a creative approach to presenting the poem 'Beacons at Bealtaine' by Seamus Heaney in translation. We worked with Literature Ireland, the Seamus Heaney Estate and the Department of Foreign Affairs to bring this beautiful piece of work to life.

Each translation has its own unique, printed cover created using a gelli plate, making imprints of findings from Phoenix Park, where the welcoming ceremony took place on May Day 2004. All ten translations are kept together in a bespoke slipcase that showcases their individual spines, while the die cut cover of ten equal circles represents the coming together and welcoming of the ten new states to the EU. The photograph of Seamus Heaney was taken by Bobby Hanvey in 2007.