Artist Statement
My practice examines The Human and its bodily condition, driven through obsessive inquiries into concepts of skin, materiality, otherness, duality, and the dimensions and limitations of the physical body. Work is realized through an intensive interdisciplinary approach, incorporating a range of materials and processes, from tapes, glues, foams and found objects to oil painting, wax modelling, virtual media, and installation. I draw from a variety of disciplines including science, philosophy, literature, and mythology. The exhaustive nature of my studio methodology, manifests as a deep questioning, which efforts to enhance an empathetic fathoming of what it means to be human.
Biography
Shania McDonagh a multidisciplinary visual artist from Co. Mayo, in the west of Ireland. In 2020, she graduated with a first-class honours Degree in Contemporary Art from the Centre for Creative Arts and Media, GMIT, and is currently undertaking a Masters in Creative Practice at CCAM. McDonagh has won numerous national awards, and in 2020, was awarded the Academic Achievement Award for BA Contemporary Art. Recent exhibitions include ‘Materia Manus’, a solo show at 126 Gallery, Galway, (2021), ‘Not a Degree Show’ (2020) and ‘Mayo God Help Us’, at Claremorris Gallery, selected by Patrick T Murphy, director of RHA and Catherine Marshall, former head of Collections at IMMA, (2015). She has exhibited work nationally; in Dublin city Hugh Lane Gallery, The Hunt Museum Limerick, Highlanes Gallery Drogheda, Cork Vision Centre, Ulster Museum Belfast, and internationally; at The International High School Arts Festival in Tokyo, Japan.
