Lily O'Shea

Lily O’Shea (b. 1997) is a visual artist and writer based in Galway concerned with political questions surrounding the contemporary labourer. Lily’s work utilizes performance, sculpture, and text to explore the effects of hyper-productivity and its ability to drain one’s creative resources.

Lily recently completed an associate membership with Sample-Studios, Cork (2021); a graduate residency at Backwater Artists Group Cork (2020); a two-month residency at 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Galway (2021); and a desk research residency at The Guesthouse Project, Cork (2020). Recent solo exhibitions include slow puncture, Sample-studios, curated by Ali O’Shea, Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Cork (2021). Group exhibitions include; ‘A Caring Matter’, Dublin Art Book Fair 2022, curated by Rosie Lynch, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (2022); host/ghost, Rebound Arts Festival, group exhibition curated by Aoife Hayes and Glenn Dunlea, Cork (2022); ‘a passive house’, presentation with Alison O’Shea at Rebel Reads, Cork (2021), MART Annual Awards Show, Dublin (2021); a passive house, a publication initiated by Cork based curator Ali O’Shea involving artists Fiona Kelly, Dori O’Connell, Mary O’Leary and Lily O’Shea (2020); Villa the End, Berlin Gallery Weekend, Charlottenburg, Germany (2019). Recent writing include; ‘Beyond Tokenism’, featured in Genuinely Seeking publication edited by Rachel Botha, Bloomers (2022); ‘foggy’ a text featured on The Paper (2021); ‘Laggard’, a text featured on The Paper (2021); ‘Collaborative Survival in Precarious Times’, a text featured in Hypertext, Bloomers Magazine, (2020). Lily has recently received the Creative Practitioner Bursary from the Galway City Council and has an upcoming residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre.