Artist Bio
Lorraine Cleary is a socio-political visual artist based in County Clare, Ireland. Her interdisciplinary practice incorporates sculpture, textiles, embroidery, and installation, through which she examines gendered violence, trauma, and the politics of visibility. Reclaiming traditionally feminine materials as tools of resistance and storytelling, Cleary challenges patriarchal structures and confronts the pervasive influence of misogyny in contemporary culture.
Cleary graduated with a First-Class Honours MA in 2016 and received a First-Class Honours BA in Fine Art in 2014. She was a recipient of the Highly Commended Award in the 2014 programme of the Undergraduate Awards in both the Visual Arts & the Media & Arts Categories. Her work has been published in numerous art magazines and has been featured in the Visual Arts Newsletter several times. She has been recognised with multiple awards including the Agility award from the Arts Council Ireland in 2023 and 2024. She has been awarded residencies at South Tipperary Arts Centre and the Tyrone Guthrie in Monaghan.
Solo exhibitions include "Estranged" at An Culturlann in Belfast, "Vessels of Strength" at the Excel Gallery in Tipperary, “Rural Shame” at Customs House, Westport and” Conversation with [my] Mother at Alley Arts Center, Tyrone. Notable group shows include “Simulacrum” at Platform Arts Belfast, “BURN THE WITCH STILL I RISE” at GOMA, Waterford, and “Feminine Space” at Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery. In 2026, she will present a solo exhibition in the Ballaí Bána Gallery at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, Belfast.
