Siobhan McDonald

View works. A History of Time: This project is composed of 9 photograms + erased paintings created by the direct imprint of specimens from the earliest plants on earth. The plants were foraged around the world and grown in scientifically assimilated atmospheres dating back to the beginning of time. Using a camera obscura, the images are captured on the edge of the visible to narrate the changing state of the Earth's atmosphere. To make this work the light has travelled through controlled atmospheres with varying levels of carbon dioxide, recreating the conditions of the Triassic, Cretaceous, and Devonian Periods and into the Anthropocene. This work speaks to the fragility of our current climate crisis and the importance of plants within our ecosystem. Made in collaboration with the Henry Fox Talbot Museum and The School of Science, UCD.
A History of Time: This project is composed of 9 photograms + erased paintings created by the direct imprint of specimens from the earliest plants on earth. The plants were foraged around the world and grown in scientifically assimilated atmospheres dating back to the beginning of time. Using a camera obscura, the images are captured on the edge of the visible to narrate the changing state of the Earth's atmosphere. To make this work the light has travelled through controlled atmospheres with varying levels of carbon dioxide, recreating the conditions of the Triassic, Cretaceous, and Devonian Periods and into the Anthropocene. This work speaks to the fragility of our current climate crisis and the importance of plants within our ecosystem. Made in collaboration with the Henry Fox Talbot Museum and The School of Science, UCD.
View works

Siobhan McDonald holds a Masters in Visual Arts Practices from IADT. In 2018 she received the Trinity Creative Challenge Award from Trinity College Dublin. In 2017 she received a Bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland and was the recipient of a Creative Ireland Award and a Culture Ireland, GB18 2018 award.

Recent and upcoming shows include Hidden Monuments, Limerick City Art Gallery, 2019; The Dutchese Museum, Dresden Shine-on-me; When plants remember; The National Trust-Fox Talbot Museum, UK, 2018; Disappearing Worlds, Taylor Galleries 2018; Crystalline, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, 2017; A Change in the Signal, Highlanes, Ireland, 2017; Core, The Historic Seismic Museum, Germany,2013; Seism, The Dock Carrick-on-Shannon, 2012; Eye of the Storm, The Galway Arts Centre, 2012; Rhythm, The Drawing Project, IADT, 2012; Moon; Messenger, Vangard Gallery, Cork, 2007; The Royal Hibernian Gallery, Dublin, 2000.

McDonald is represented in many collections, both public and private, in Ireland and America such as Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, The Ulster Museum and University College Dublin. Her projects are supported by The Institute of Physics, Culture Ireland, The Arts Council and The European Research Council.