Caoimhe Kilfeather

Caoimhe Kilfeather studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and teaches at Limerick School of Art and Design. She lives and works in Dublin. Her practice is largely informed by ways of thinking about human experience and memory, as well as an ongoing interest in the materiality of the world.

The histories of vernacular architecture, humankind’s ritualistic tendencies, as well as the impact and imprint of the experience of landscape are subject matters that influence her work. Photographs often provide a context for or orientation to the sculptural works. Exhibitions sometimes take the form of an environment – with the creation of a “new place”. Such installations have a reflective presence; they are sparsely appointed with crafted objects that are charged with thoughts, memories and other associations. These objects can behave like facsimiles of “real life” – things as well as art objects in and of themselves. In this way the installation might feel simultaneously like two separate places – one real and another imagined. She employs processes as diverse as weaving, casting, carving and photography, and materials including bronze, iron, plaster, paper, silk, wood and coal. This broad range of materials and processes is reflective of the world to which the work is addressed and derived from.

Caoimhe Kilfeather applied for a Golden Fleece Award to resolve a new body of sculptural works exploring examples of processes within human production which mimic processes from the natural world, for example weaving. Funding would contribute to the purchase of materials and other ongoing costs.