‘Ode to Weavers’ Jacket by Caoimhe Dowling

This jacket was crafted as an ode to weavers - weaving is a shared thread between Ireland and Palestine, a quiet language of care, resistance and remembrance, binding people to place through craft.

The original MA-1 flight jacket was worn by the United States Air Force and U.S. Navy pilots and aircrew, beginning in the mid-1950s. The MA-1 bomber jacket began as a tool of the military-industrial complex, designed for function, authority, and control. Over time, subcultures such as the punk and skinhead movements in London, bought the jackets in military surplus shops and reappropriated the MA-1, wearing it as an act of defiance. Stripped from its military origins, the jacket became a symbol of ironic power - mocking the very systems it once represented.

For Dlúthpháirtíocht, I reimagined the MA-1 through the lens of craft, kinship, and resistance between the Irish and Palestinian people; by combining hand-woven materials from makers in Ireland and Palestine. This version is made from wool spun and processed in Co. Donegal, Ireland and woven into cloth by Woven in the Bone, a micro-mill on Scotland’s northeast coast combined with a handwoven Palestinian keffiyeh, an enduring symbol of identity and resistance

All profits go to Dignity for Palestine.