'Love' Installation in Muirhevna Building
The One Million Stars Ireland project is an award-winning, inclusive community arts initiative that connects communities across the country in solidarity against Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV). Each eight-pointed star represents light, hope and unity, while also reflecting the project’s eight principles of healthy love within relationships.
This Irish project forms part of the global One Billion Stars movement, founded in Australia in 2012 by artist Maryann Talia Pau following the rape and murder of Irish woman Jill Meagher, originally from County Louth, who was living in Melbourne at the time. The initiative was brought to Ireland in 2019 by art therapist Siobhán McQuillan in partnership with Amber Women’s Refuge, the domestic abuse service supporting women and children in Kilkenny and Carlow.
Today, star-weaving communities exist in all 26 counties and in Northern Ireland. Together with community groups, businesses and individual volunteers, more than 512,000 stars have already been woven across Ireland in support of ending domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
Recently, during DkIT’s 16 Days of Activism, students and staff came together to weave stars in solidarity with survivors of domestic abuse and all forms of violence. The One Million Stars initiative united students, staff and community partners on campus, with each star serving as a symbol of unity, compassion and a shared commitment to ending violence. The Stars created by DkIT Students and staff during this event will now become part of the Installation as it spends time in the Institute.
For more information on the One Million Stars Installation contact: [email protected]