Marielle MacLeman is a visual artist based in Galway, working across installation, sculpture, papermaking, textiles and photography. Her practice is concerned with the material traces of progress and decline, unfolding the interplay between the built and natural, machine and handmade, while reconstituting remnants.
Research and materials are closely intertwined in her work. She uses dust as pigment, debris for sculpting, shadows for patternmaking and sunlight as a tool for drawing with natural dyes that respond to site. Working across papermaking, printing, textile and sculptural processes, she reimagines materials including beach glass, factory trimmings, lab coats, tree chippings, grass and lint into new forms such as terrazzo, friezes, botanical composites and textile works. Her installations are increasingly experimental and site-responsive, incorporating materials in states of transformation and evolving during and between exhibitions. MacLeman’s practice is underpinned by a strong commitment to process and careful investigation of site. Her work engages with ideas of collective action, commemoration and conservation, bringing together fragments that reflect hidden histories, invisible labour and questions of value and care.
Marielle MacLeman applied for the Golden Fleece Award to support a period of experimentation and technical development across papermaking, textiles and photography. The award would enable her to upgrade studio equipment, undertake specialist research and residencies, and develop new large-scale installations exploring reclaimed fibres and material transformation.
