Lorraine Cleary’s interdisciplinary practice moves between sculpture, assemblage, textiles, embroidery, drawing and installation to examine gendered violence, trauma and the politics of visibility. Reclaiming traditional craft and the domestic sphere as sites of agency and defiance, her work transforms hand-stitched materials, found objects and archival references into tactile narratives of endurance, resistance and remembrance.
Informed by lived experience and shaped by a wider socio-political framework, Cleary investigates how women have been constructed, mythologised, silenced and controlled within cultural memory, folklore and contemporary society. Her practice challenges the enduring structures of misogyny while giving form to stories often pushed to the margins, positioning women not as passive subjects, but as autonomous agents within systems that have sought to contain them.
Through labour-intensive processes of stitching, reconstruction and installation, Cleary creates works that hold trauma, resilience and reclamation in the same space. Her forthcoming exhibition, Ceastóireacht Bridget Cleary / Stitching the Silence: The Interrogation of Bridget Cleary, continues this enquiry through the story of Bridget Cleary, reclaiming a silenced voice through domestic craft, storytelling and visual protest.
Are you self-taught, or did you undertake formal artistic training?
I graduated with a First-Class Honours MA in Interactive Media from the University of Limerick in 2016 and received a First-Class Honours BA in Fine Art, Sculpture, from Limerick School of Art & Design in 2014. I was a recipient of the Highly Commended Award in the 2014 programme of the Undergraduate Awards in both the Visual Arts and Media & Arts categories. My work has been published in numerous art magazines and has been featured in the Visual Arts Newsletter, Ireland, several times. I have been recognised with multiple awards, including the Agility Award from the Arts Council Ireland in 2023 and 2024. I was awarded residencies at South Tipperary Arts Centre and Tyrone Guthrie in Monaghan.
Can you describe your creative process from conception to completion?
I work intuitively with materials and have succeeded in building an art practice that is sympathetic to sustainability, beginning by salvaging objects from the domestic sphere and various charity outlets. After a period of research, or when an idea presents itself, I assemble materials into piles and assess them to consider the possibilities. My working methodology combines hand-stitched textiles with reconstructed found objects to communicate themes of oppression.
My approach is intuitive and materially led. However, I do continually assess and make decisions throughout the process. In developing the narrative, I like the material to guide me and tell me its story; therefore, the work is not fully planned beforehand. Textiles have become an integral part of my practice; all are hand-stitched, meaning that I work late into the night to complete pieces. In this sense, I tend to divide my working day into two sections. The day is spent in the studio working on built pieces, and my nights are spent stitching.
Titles are of the utmost importance to me. They become part of the work, part of the story. Their purpose is to encourage the viewer to consider the possible meanings behind the work. They introduce the viewer to possible scenarios that play out using the viewer’s imagination to reconcile what is happening in the work.
Does narrative, symbolism, or storytelling play a role within your work?
Storytelling plays a large part in my practice. I envision myself as a visual storyteller. I combine sculpture, textiles, embroidery, drawing and installation to materialise the lingering traces of trauma, transforming them into tactile narratives of resilience and remembrance. My work challenges patriarchal narratives and reclaims traditional craft and the domestic sphere as tools of agency and defiance, amplifying women’s stories within contemporary visual culture.
Embroidery, traditionally regarded as a feminine craft and confined to the domestic sphere, becomes a powerful medium for narrative expression and storytelling. Through acts of reclamation and critical storytelling, I aim to contribute to a broader conversation on how art can both confront and heal the collective memory of violence.
Which artists have most influenced you historically or contemporarily and why?
The artists that I am drawn to hold significant context within their works. Socio-political artworks inspire me. Colombian artist Doris Salcedo is among those artists. Salcedo’s work gives form to pain, fear, trauma and loss; she produces handcrafted sculptures and site-specific installations that encourage individual and collective mourning.
Tracey Emin and Louise Bourgeois have been a big inspiration in terms of how I approach work. Emin made very personal work, work that dripped with honesty, and over the years she has received backlash for it. She has always defended her work and remained true to herself, even when she faced significant criticism for doing so. I greatly admire that, as I believe that as artists we should not conform or compromise on our artworks, especially when these works have something important to say.
Bourgeois worked up until her nineties, and key themes in her work were trauma and abandonment. There are many other artists whose works I admire, such as The Guerrilla Girls, Jesse Jones and Rachel Fallon.
What personal, cultural, or environmental influences shape your practice?
My practice critically examines the enduring structures of misogyny embedded within cultural memory, folklore and contemporary social narratives, and interrogates the complex dynamics of gender, power and agency. Working across installation, sculpture, textiles and embroidery, I investigate how women have been constructed, mythologised, silenced and controlled, and how these narratives continue to shape lived experience.
As a survivor of domestic abuse, my research is informed by lived experience. I am particularly interested in how trauma inscribes itself onto physical and psychological spaces, leaving enduring traces that reshape environments over time.
Where is your studio based, and how does the space inform your creativity?
I am a rural-based artist working from my studio in County Clare, Ireland. The area where I live is pretty quiet, and this allows me the time to reflect on my craft. My studio has become my safe place, where I can voice past traumas through my work.
Do you have any rituals or rhythms that anchor your studio practice?
I work prolifically. I tend to work in my sculpture studio during the day, and in the evenings I do embroidery or textile works. Through repetition, stitching and archival reference, I explore acts of endurance and reclamation, positioning women as autonomous agents within systems that seek to contain them.
The act of hand-stitching is ritualistic. It calms me and eases my anxiety, which has become a part of who I am, the residue from years of domestic abuse.
What bodies of work or projects are you currently developing?
Currently, I am working on a large body of work for my upcoming solo show at An Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, Belfast. This exhibition will transform the gallery into an immersive environment of paintings and embroidered texts, which narrate the horrific story of Bridget Cleary, a young woman from rural Ireland who was brutally murdered in 1895 after being accused of witchcraft.
The work will be presented in a mapping fashion, connected by a trail of red ribbon that weaves through the space, with dates and locations inviting us to trace the events that led to Bridget’s death. The work will attempt to reclaim Bridget’s silenced voice, turning domestic craft into acts of storytelling and resistance. The installation will operate as a visual protest, insisting on respectful remembrance and restoring Bridget to history, with HER NAME reclaimed.
Where can collectors encounter or acquire your work?
My website has a shop page that is currently under construction. Here, original drawings will be available to purchase. Other works will only become available for sale during exhibitions. However, not all my work is for sale, as I intend to exhibit this work again in the future. My current solo show is due to be exhibited in Galway in March 2027.
