Léann Herlihy (they/them) is an artist, researcher and educator based in Dublin. Their practice is informed by trans*, queer ecological, feminist and abolitionist theoretical frameworks which deploys alternative modalities of expression through an array of mediums including live performance, video, billboards, sculpture, text, workshops and radical pedagogies. Rigorously and creatively critiquing the positioning of Otherness in a heteronormative society, Léann actively transgresses beyond ‘Other’ as another tick-box option to choose from and moves to explore the generative capacity of collective engagement and resistance when we abolish colonial and capitalist prescriptions of personhood, the body and gender. Refusing disciplinary coherence, their research dwells in the often incompatible and unarchived fragments physically found at the back of storage rooms or virtually spiraling down the threads of online forums as they scavenge for remnants of those who have been deliberately or accidentally excluded from society.
Léann Herlihy is a lecturer in the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. They are the recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Artist Award (2022), Visual Arts Bursary (2021, 2023, 2024, 2025) & Project Award (2024). Select solo exhibitions include the middle of nowhere, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2022); Beyond Survival School Bus, Dublin Fringe Festival (2022). Select two person shows include pass the baton, Galway Arts Centre (2025); False Start, GOMA, Waterford (2025). Select group shows include EXPO CHICAGO, Central America (2026); Innsbruck International Biennial, Austria (2026); Staying with the Trouble, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2025); Dreamtime Ireland, VISUAL Carlow (202)]; Precarious Joys, Toronto Biennial of Art (2024); The Salvage Agency, TULCA (2024); The Gleaners Society, 40th EVA International (2023); Reflex Blue, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (2023).
They are a Member Studio Artist (2024-2)] at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin.
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