
Photo by William Croall Photography
BIO
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Fiona Byrne is an Irish artist, educator and writer. She trained at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and has a joint degree in glass and visual culture. She has been awarded funding from Culture Moves Europe, Arts Council of Ireland, the Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Awards and BLICKE Kultur Stadt Bern. She has exhibited internationally including showing her work in Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, France and the UK.
In addition to her artistic practice, she has worked extensively in the arts education sector. She has organised and led many exhibitions, events and workshops centred on the themes of engagement and process; examining the role of making in our society.
STATMENT
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Fiona Byrne is an artist focused on how a greater connection with body, material and place can reshape how we interact with the world. Her practice explores the transformative potential of material engagement. She works through objects to explore how knowledge is created and stored, delving into the concept of intelligence as an ecosystem which encompasses human and more-than-human nature. This idea expands intelligence not just to plants and creatures, but also to things.
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Her personal connection with material and tactic skills is hugely important. It feeds into the concepts behind her practice. The direct interaction with the making process imbues the work with a residue, a memory of the knowledge that led to its creation.