Ballintubber is a small, tranquil village in Ireland, home to historic Ballintubber Abbey. It is also the birthplace of Brother Joseph McNally, who grew up in this small farming community and left his hometown at just 14 years of age to join the De La Salle Brothers.

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In conjunction with Brother McNally's centenary celebrations, Edmund Chia and Vicente Delgado (Tito), lecturers from LASALLE’s Faculty of Design, headed to Ireland in May 2023. During their trip, Edmund and Tito held a Drawing Lab workshop for students at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and spent several days in Ballintubber. Through their visit, they hoped to trace Brother McNally's history and journey to Singapore, and create artworks in response.

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What Edmund and Tito found was an enchanting town where the presence of Brother McNally was still deeply felt. Many of Brother's sculptures remain around the village, and the McNally family still lives in Ballintubber to this day.

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“People were very friendly, and many of the residents know of Brother Joe’s work in Singapore. When they found out about our visit, many would come up to us and start conversations about Brother Joe.”_‍

— Edmund Chia

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Read more about Edmund and Tito's visit to Ballintubber here.