Carapace: the hard upper shell of a tortoise or a crustacean. Protective and enveloping forms recur often in Eilís O'Connell's sculptures, and together with the geometry of cones, spheres and cubes, these elements occupy her constantly as she works through every possible permutation. This is not O'Connell's first work to carry the title Carapace - an earlier version in bronze she felt was not successful, but the model for this work in stainless steel and stainless steel cable is identically shaped. On a monumental scale the basic, strengthened form of the sculpture combines spun finials with laser-cut strips that create the warp for the stainless steel cable weft. Over 5000 metres of cable have been employed to achieve this dense weave which is continuous, like a Möbius strip. Before being woven the warp members are flexible, but with the weft snaking through the skeleton, its structure becomes rigid.

Eilís O'Connell first started to weave sculptures in 1994. She became frustrated by the limitations of working sheet steel by hand in the studio, since she could not bend it as she required without lengthy planning and industrial assistance. She then began to use canvas with steel in her sculptures and found that she could achieve the forms she wanted. She also got similar results when weaving with metal cable. Searching in this way - moving, combining, cutting and shifting - is typical of O'Connell's working method. She experiments continually in order to discover form. In Carapace she found this complex geometrical shape by cutting and joining cones which were based on equilateral triangles, thus revealing the cube within. Through its linear texture occasioned by the weaving, O'Connell has emphasised the sculpture's directional planes, which would be much more difficult to see on a smooth surface. In one small, translucent version cast in resin, the cube was more obvious - here the viewer works to find it.