Grace O’Leary

Grace O’Leary is a recent graduate of the National College of Art and Design, with a BA(Hons) in Printmaking and Critical Cultures. A current studio member of A4sounds, Grace’s practice is concerned with the built environment that surrounds her which she explores through photographic processes. Grace recently exhibited at Halftone Print Fair, Photo Ireland (2021), Dublin Modular - Unit44, (2021) and Cltv - Lost and Found, Universal Space, Dublin (2021).

Grace O‘Leary Project Description

Throughout the residency, I gathered a collection of images taken on a series of walks in the area I live and call home. On these wanders, I explore conflicting emotions that arise from referents that are embedded in the landscape. Feeling both at home and simultaneously estranged within the grasp of a small breadth of space, I look to my surrounding environment for elements that are familiar and grounding. Caught at a time when one should be leaving home but with nowhere to go, I am constantly confronted with remnants of construction sites and debris. Artefacts of a failed future which however long they have now been present will always feel alien and intrusive. Walls encroaching in, land hoarded off, chains locking up, glass panes gathering dust, forgotten buildings, gleaming new complexes and the conflicting and changing landscape reveals a collision of two worlds. One in which I used to belong and one in which I should now belong.

IG: @graceyoleary