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
Interval VIII, 2024
Jacquard tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, Lurex, edition of 3 + 2AP
291 x 430 cm / 114.6 x 169.3 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Interval IV, 2024
Jacquard tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, Lurex, edition of 3 + 2AP
280 x 400 cm / 110.2 x 157.5 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Interval VII, 2024
Jacquard tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, edition of 3 + 2AP
280 x 406.5 cm / 110.2 x 160 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Interval II, 2024
Jacquard tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, Lurex, edition of 3 + 2AP
280 x 376 cm / 110.2 x 148 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Muses I, 2018
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
edition 5 + 2AP
212 x 165 cm / 83.5 x 65 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Muses III, 2025
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
Edition of 5 + 2AP
200 x 160 cm / 78.7 x 63 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Muses IV, 2025
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
Edition of 5 + 2AP
200 x 154 cm / 78.7 x 60.6 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Picture III, 2022
Pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, in stained walnut frame with museum glass
edition of 3 + 2AP
142 x 90 cm / 55.9 x 35.4 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Interval VIII, 2024
Jacquard tapestry, cotton, wool, silk, Lurex, edition of 3 + 2AP
291 x 430 cm / 114.6 x 169.3 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Picture VII, 2022
Pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, in stained walnut frame with museum glass
edition of 3 + 2AP
142 x 90 cm / 55.9 x 35.4 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Intrusions I, 2022
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
edition of 5 +2 AP
250 x 290 cm / 98.4 x 114.2 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Intrusions II, 2022
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
edition of 5 + 2 AP
250 x 425cm / 98.4 x 167.3 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Intrusions III, 2022
Jacquard tapestry, wool, cotton
edition of 5 + 2 AP
250 x 235 cm / 98.4 x 92.5 in
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
An Experiment with Time, 2022
Three-channel video installation with 5.1 surround sound, duration 19:02 mins, edition of 3 + 2AP
installation view, Lyon Biennale (Photo: François Deladerrière)
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Untitled (Adversary), 2020
Pigment Baryta print, in stained walnut frame with clarity glass, edition of 3 + 2AP
121.1 x 121.5 cm / 47.7 x 47.8 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Inscriptions of an Immense Theatre, 2018
Single channel film with stereo sound, duration 33:09 mins
edition of 5 + 2AP
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Passenger (1), 2015
Pigment baryta print, presented in a raw beech box frame with clarity glass, edition of 10 + 3AP
57 x 86 cm / 22.4 x 33.9 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Inscriptions (8), 2017
Pigment Baryta print, in raw walnut frame with clarity glass, edition 10 of 10 + 3AP
98 x 140 cm / 38.6 x 55.1 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Passenger (2) 2016
Pigment baryta print, presented in a raw beech box frame with clarity glass, edition of 10 + 3AP
50 x 82 cm / 19.7 x 32.3 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Untitled (still life), 2020
Pigment print on Japanese paper, in stained walnut frame with clarity glass, edition of 3 + 3AP
21 x 26 cm / 8.3 x 10.2 in framed
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain’s work has been shown widely internationally, at venues including Broad Museum, Michigan; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Hammer Museum, LA; Istanbul Modern, Turkey; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France and the 16th Lyon Biennale. Current and forthcoming exhibitions include An Experiment with Time, Kunsthal Gent, Belgium (Solo, 31 May – 31 December 2024); Lahore Biennale (from 5 October 2024); The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin and Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland (both solo, 2025). Recent solo exhibitions include Kerlin Gallery (2023); CCA Glasgow (2022); VISUAL Carlow; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (both 2019), Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin; and Sirius Art Centre, Cork (both 2018). Public collections of her work include Dallas Museum of Art; MAC Lyon; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Ulster Museum, Belfast; Trinity College Dublin; and The Arts Council of Ireland.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
The Dream Pool Intervals, 2025
Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
Image © Hugh Lane Gallery
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
An Experiment with Time, 2024
Kunsthal Gent, Ghent, Belgium
Photo: Michiel De Cleene
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
manifesto of fragility, 2022
16th Lyon Biennale
Curated by Sam Bardaouil & Till Fellrath
Photo: François Deladerrière
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
An Experiment With Time, 2022
CCA, Glasgow, UK
Curated by Francis McKee & Alaya Ang
Photo: Ruth Clark
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Living Canvas, 2022
Wilton Park, Dublin, Ireland
Curated by RHA, Dublin City Council and The Lab Gallery
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Social Fabric, 2022
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Curated by Georgie Thompson
Photo: Ros Kavanagh
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Towner International, 2020
Towner Eastbourne, Eastbourne, U.K
Selected by Mike Nelson, Polly Staple & Noelle Collins
Photo: Rob Hill
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Great Good Places, 2019
Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Curated by Dawn Williams
Photo: Jed Niezgoda
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
Inscriptions of an Immense Theatre, 2019
Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Curated by Clíodhna Shaffrey and Michael Hill
Photo: Kasia Kaminska
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
2116 - Forecast of the next century, 2017
Eli & Edyth Broad Art Museum, Michigan, USA
Curated by Caitlin Doherty, Fiona Kearney & Chris Clarke
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain discusses An Experiment with Time at CCA Glasgow, 2022
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain presents a new solo exhibition, The Dream Pool Intervals, at The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is exhibiting as part of Programmed Universes, curated by Matthieu Lelièvre at MAC Lyon.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain will exhibit in the 3rd Lahore Biennale, LB03: Of Mountains and Seas, curated by John Tain.
Willie Doherty and Ailbhe Ní Bhriain are exhibited as part of SUSPENSE at The Ulster Museum's collection. SUSPENSE presents highlights from the museum's collection, one of the most important collections of twentieth-century and contemporary art in the UK and Ireland.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's solo exhibition An Experiment with Time explores our current relationship with past and future, which has been deeply disrupted by the urgent climate threat, mass extinction and pandemic.
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is exhibiting as part of Innsbruck International, a contemporary biennial of the arts that invites international artists to use Innsbruck’s historical and contemporary venues to present visual art, film, sound, performance and installation.
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.
