isabel english
Through the combined mediums of photography, textile and sculpture, Isabel English extends from the literary genre of autofiction - combining autobiographical truths with fictionalised renderings - to create contextually sensitive installations. English draws on the architecture of the home, fusing sites of personal significance with the politics of psychology.
The concealing gestures of covering, protecting, layering and armouring become significant processes within her work, using these actions to trace onto the material properties of her practice. The absence of a figure (or wearer) is suggested in the objects that English locates within these settings, resurrected or located in details and images of personal loss. As viewers, one stumbles upon an undisclosed intimacy, positioning us towards human experience which is protected and concealed beyond the limits of language.
Through the combined mediums of photography, textile and sculpture, Isabel English extends from the literary genre of autofiction - combining autobiographical truths with fictionalised renderings - to create contextually sensitive installations. English draws on the architecture of the home, fusing sites of personal significance with the politics of psychology.
The concealing gestures of covering, protecting, layering and armouring become significant processes within her work, using these actions to trace onto the material properties of her practice. The absence of a figure (or wearer) is suggested in the objects that English locates within these settings, resurrected or located in details and images of personal loss. As viewers, one stumbles upon an undisclosed intimacy, positioning us towards human experience which is protected and concealed beyond the limits of language.
exhibitions
2023 Fly Floor The Complex, Dublin, Ireland
2022 Caesura Unit 44, Dublin, Ireland
2022 what we were or might be The Annex, NCAD, Dublin, Ireland
2019 Radical Arcadia Zaratan Arte Contemporânea with Catalyst Arts, Lisbon, Portugal
2019 The Encounter That Never Was Kilkenny Arts Office Kilkenny, Ireland
2019 Burning Down The House Tactic
Cork, Ireland
2018 Unclosed with The National Sculpture Factory, Fitzgeralds Park, Cork, Ireland
2018 III Doswell Gallery, Rosscarbery, Cork, Ireland
2018 Homo Ludens (Man at Play) Black Church print Studios, Dublin, Ireland
2017 RDS Visual Art Awards RDS, Dublin, Ireland
2017 Double Think James Barry Exhibition Centre, Cork, Ireland
2017 Beyond Dialogue CCAD Cork, Ireland
2016 Murmuration The Village Hall, Cork Ireland
2023 Fly Floor The Complex, Dublin, Ireland
2022 Caesura Unit 44, Dublin, Ireland
2022 what we were or might be The Annex, NCAD, Dublin, Ireland
2019 Radical Arcadia Zaratan Arte Contemporânea with Catalyst Arts, Lisbon, Portugal
2019 The Encounter That Never Was Kilkenny Arts Office Kilkenny, Ireland
2019 Burning Down The House Tactic
Cork, Ireland
2018 Unclosed with The National Sculpture Factory, Fitzgeralds Park, Cork, Ireland
2018 III Doswell Gallery, Rosscarbery, Cork, Ireland
2018 Homo Ludens (Man at Play) Black Church print Studios, Dublin, Ireland
2017 RDS Visual Art Awards RDS, Dublin, Ireland
2017 Double Think James Barry Exhibition Centre, Cork, Ireland
2017 Beyond Dialogue CCAD Cork, Ireland
2016 Murmuration The Village Hall, Cork Ireland