Re: Proclaim Print – Shane O’Driscoll

Mise Éire, Shane O’Driscoll, silkscreen and letterpress

Artist’s Statement

Grounded in architectural elements of Liberty Hall, the GPO and the cylindrical forms of the Wharfdale printing press, the print represents an abstracted response to brief.

Many anomalies resulted from a shortage of specific letters when the Proclamation was hastily typeset at Liberty Hall.  The rough-edged black curve on the print references the irregular letter “C” in Republic in the Proclamation, originally an “O” filled with wax. Since first learning about its production at the Print Museum many years ago, I have been fascinated by these imperfections, which reveal the urgency and resourcefulness behind its creation.

Three signatories were published poets, and I wanted to acknowledge this literary dimension through the words Mise Éire (“I am Ireland”), the title of Pádraig Pearse’s 1912 poem. Expressing national identity and resistance, the poem connected the Gaelic cultural revival with the struggle for independence and continues to resonate across Irish literature and art.

“Mise Éire” is blind debossed using irregular typography, shaped by the limitations of the type available to me. This process deliberately echoes the constraints experienced by the original printers, allowing the physical act of making to reflect the history being commemorated. The debossed lettering gives the words a tangible presence, while the irregular forms and rough edges translate the Proclamation’s printing anomalies into an abstract visual language.

Through these material and formal references, the artwork moves beyond literal representation to explore the relationship between language, history and making. The imperfections are not concealed but embraced as meaningful traces of the original document’s production.

Printed on Fabriano Rosapina

Pre-order sale, works available for early December 

This work forms part of the exhibition Re: Proclaim – Seven Artists Respond to the 1916 Proclamation – National Print Museum 

Limited edition of 30 

Photography by Mark Henderson 

Supported by the Commemorations Unit of the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport