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11/8/2023 - 10/10/2023

Maria's work is often conceptual based and focuses on concepts of place, such as psychogeography, the derive, deep mapping, rhythm analysis, heterotopias, and the flaneur. She is interested in exploring different places and identifying different patterns in the landscape and the behaviour of the people who interact with a particular landscape. She likes to wander and explore the city or landscape and find, react and capture moments of everyday life. In past years she has often looked at the concepts of place in urban areas, but in recent years after a trip to southeast Asia she discovered scuba diving and a whole other world beneath the surface of the sea. She is now intrigued with exploring and documenting underwater aquatic spaces and coastal places surround the island of Ireland. She is interested in mapping and identifying different rhythms, that the wildlife, plant life and human life have on this diverse and sometimes under documented landscape.

Maria McSweeney, Capturing Canggu (Part of the Capturing Canggu photo series) lomochrome purple film photography, 2022. A one-off project using Lomography medium format purple film stock to document, Canggu, a remote corner of Bali transformed into another world utopia for 21st century youth. Digital nomads, crypto millionaires, surfers, thrill seekers and models live out an idealized tropical life surrounded by popup bars, co-workspaces and coffee shops. Life here can be exciting, fast paced and ever changing, with a temporary, live in the moment vibe. While the outside world struggled in the grip of pandemic, those in Canggu lived in a separate surreal other world. Canggu was and is a kind of post pandemic ideal, where Generation Z, the new emerging adults, explore their vision for the world and its future. Maria hopes, through her photos of Canggu, people can ponder and reflect on a possible future for our post pandemic world, a world viewed through idealised, some might say, rose tinted glasses. These photos are an amalgam of our past lives represented by her Irish friend Sarah Jane and a possible future utopia seen through the lens of Canggu. This possible future is represented by the artistic creation of the shot and the location itself, this idealised version of Canggu. This project was exhibited at Limerick Summerfest and the Oobleck collective exhibition Cause Celebre.
Maria McSweeney, Capturing Canggu (Part of the Capturing Canggu photo series) lomochrome purple film photography, 2022.

A one-off project using Lomography medium format purple film stock to document, Canggu, a remote corner of Bali transformed into another world utopia for 21st century youth. Digital nomads, crypto millionaires, surfers, thrill seekers and models live out an idealized tropical life surrounded by popup bars, co-workspaces and coffee shops. Life here can be exciting, fast paced and ever changing, with a temporary, live in the moment vibe. While the outside world struggled in the grip of pandemic, those in Canggu lived in a separate surreal other world. Canggu was and is a kind of post pandemic ideal, where Generation Z, the new emerging adults, explore their vision for the world and its future. Maria hopes, through her photos of Canggu, people can ponder and reflect on a possible future for our post pandemic world, a world viewed through idealised, some might say, rose tinted glasses. These photos are an amalgam of our past lives represented by her Irish friend Sarah Jane and a possible future utopia seen through the lens of Canggu. This possible future is represented by the artistic creation of the shot and the location itself, this idealised version of Canggu. This project was exhibited at Limerick Summerfest and the Oobleck collective exhibition Cause Celebre.
Maria McSweeney, Embrace (from the Women from the inside collectives photography exhibition), digital photo, 2022. Women from the Inside is a photographic project celebrating the wonderful and diverse women of Limerick. It explores what it means to be a woman living in the city in 2022. Through this collective and collaborative work, a new concept of being feminine in the 21st century was envisaged. Three women artists and creatives came together to facilitate this project. Clara Planelles, Maria McSweeney and Clara McSweeney. Over 30 women from Limerick city from a diverse range of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities participated. The project was exhibited in different settings throughout Limerick city including, The Bell Table, The Hunt Museum, The Women’s Prison, Sailor's home, the Crescent shopping centre, and Limerick Summerfest. This project has been funded twice through the Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award and a further new body of work relating to the project will be produced in 2023.
Maria McSweeney, Embrace (from the Women from the inside collectives photography exhibition), digital photo, 2022.

Women from the Inside is a photographic project celebrating the wonderful and diverse women of Limerick. It explores what it means to be a woman living in the city in 2022. Through this collective and collaborative work, a new concept of being feminine in the 21st century was envisaged. Three women artists and creatives came together to facilitate this project. Clara Planelles, Maria McSweeney and Clara McSweeney. Over 30 women from Limerick city from a diverse range of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities participated. The project was exhibited in different settings throughout Limerick city including, The Bell Table, The Hunt Museum, The Women’s Prison, Sailor's home, the Crescent shopping centre, and Limerick Summerfest. This project has been funded twice through the Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award and a further new body of work relating to the project will be produced in 2023.
Maria Mcsweeney, Women on the roadside from Amed, East Bali, Indonesia (Part of the ‘Rural People of Bali and Lombok’ series), photograph, 2022. A photo from non-profit 35mm documentary photography project exploring the rural people of Bali and Lombok, Indonesia, who Maria found, are underrepresented on the island. This project will be made into a publication in the coming year with all profits going to charities who help the rural people of Bali and Lombok. The work has been exhibited at Hornbill Art space in Ubud, Bali, together with other analogue photography artists.
Maria Mcsweeney, Women on the roadside from Amed, East Bali, Indonesia (Part of the ‘Rural People of Bali and Lombok’ series), photograph, 2022.

A photo from non-profit 35mm documentary photography project exploring the rural people of Bali and Lombok, Indonesia, who Maria found, are underrepresented on the island. This project will be made into a publication in the coming year with all profits going to charities who help the rural people of Bali and Lombok. The work has been exhibited at Hornbill Art space in Ubud, Bali, together with other analogue photography artists.
Maria McSweeney, DP Postcard Project, 2023
Maria McSweeney, DP Postcard Project, 2023

Maria McSweeney

Maria McSweeney (1998) is a recent graduate from Limerick School of Art and Design specializing in Sculpture and Combined Media. She is currently based in Mallow, Co. Cork. She is both a conceptual artist and a documentary photographer. She works in a range of media including drawing, writing, dance, animation, video, photography, experimental film and found objects. She has exhibited extensively in Ireland, England, Spain, Germany, and Indonesia. Her most recent projects include Women from the Inside, Capturing Canggu, The Rural People of Bali and Lombok, and the DP postcard project.

Upcoming opportunities include an analogue photography residency with the Darkroom Dublin, an exhibition residency with Leitrim sculpture centre, an underwater photography project documenting the coral and wildlife in the Aran Islands, a solo exhibition in Clonakilty community arts centre, and participation in the Douglas Hyde student forum for 2023.

Past Residencies