b. 1978 Clare, Ireland.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is an Irish artist working with film, computer generated imagery, collage, tapestry, print and installation. Ní Bhriain's work is rooted in an exploration of imperial legacy, human displacement and the Anthropocene. These intertwined subjects are approached through an associative use of narrative and a painstakingly crafted visual language that verges on the surreal. She sidesteps directive positions and familiar binaries, exposing instead the layers of ambiguity and contradiction embedded in these fraught issues. The resulting worlds she creates are at once idiosyncratic, irresistible and deeply unsettling. Her work has been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and regularly involves collaboration with musicians and composers.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain lives and works in Cork.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's work has been shown widely internationally, with exhibitions including Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin; Broad Museum, Michigan; Whitechapel Gallery, London; CCA, Glasgow; Hammer Museum, LA; Istanbul Modern, Turkey; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid and the 16th Lyon Biennale. Recent exhibitions include Hollow Earth, curated by Hayward Gallery Touring, visiting Nottingham Contemporary and Glucksman Gallery, Cork; THIS RURAL, Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland and solo exhibitions at Domobaal Gallery, London and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (all 2023). In 2024, Ní Bhriain will exhibit at Innsbruck International Biennial, Kunsthal Gent, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Lismore Castle Arts.
Public collections of her work include MAC Lyon; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Trinity College Dublin; The Arts Council of Ireland; and Office of Public Works, Ireland.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's two large-scale Jacquard tapestries Intrusions I and Intrusions II are included in Formes de la ruine, a major group exhibition at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
Works by Dorothy Cross, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, and Isabel Nolan are included in Following Threads, an exhibition of textile-based work at Crawford Art Gallery, Cork.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane and Ailbhe Ní Bhriain are both included in THIS RURAL, curated by Miriam O’Connor & Paul McAree.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain was interviewed by John Kelly on RTÉ One’s culture series The Works Presents.
Work by Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is included in Hollow Earth: Art, Caves and The Subterranean Imaginary, a major thematic exhibition which brings together a wide range of responses to the image and idea of the cave.