SAY HELLO
[Email] oconnormiriamc@gmail.com
[Instagram] miriam_o_connor
ABOUT
Miriam O’Connor is a visual artist and small farmer from Cork. She received a BA in Photography from DIT (now TU Dublin) in 2007 and a Research Masters at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology in 2011. In her lens-based practice, she is curious about the multifaceted roles photography occupies in culture and the manner in which this persuasive medium permeates the way we encounter the world around us. She employs photography in conceptual, playful and inquisitive ways, and her projects regularly acknowledge the complexities and limitations of the medium that communicate her ideas. Her practice primarily encompasses photography, text and printed matter, while diverse methods, places and contexts are frequently employed for presenting her work. Following her relocation to the family farm in recent years, she occupies a dual role of artist and farmer and is interested in engaging with the elasticity and functionality of photography through everyday agricultural life. In attending to her day-to-day farming tasks, she is often preoccupied with what role her art practice can play in everyday farming life, or how, like other things on the farm, could it be put to work in meaningful ways.
O’ Connor was recently selected for the New Irish Works Programme, 2025 – 2027 in conjunction with the International Centre for the Image, Dublin, a recipient of a Creative Artist Bursary from Cork County Council (2026) and an Arts Council of Ireland Visual Artist Bursary in 2024. Recent work includes Fox=Cow for New Irish Works, (2026), Not Business As Usual, a new commission with the Glucksman and Cork University Business School for the UCC Art Collection (2023), The Fertiliser Spreader in, A Growing Enquiry, Art and Agriculture at the Royal Hibernian Academy (2022), Camera at the Mart at Roscommon Arts Centre (2022). Other recent solo shows include, Tomorrow is Sunday at Macroom Town Hall, Co. Cork (2021), at Ashford Gallery, RHA, Dublin (2021) and Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh (2020). Publications include, the Condition Report Register (2022), Tomorrow is Sunday (2020), The Legacy Project (2013) and Attention Seekers (2012). Other recent awards include, Platform 31 Award (2022), Arts Council Agility Award (2021), Arts Council Visual Artist Bursary (2020) and the Visual Artists Ireland Experiment! Award (2020). Her work is part of FUTURES, a photography platform that pools the resources and talent programmes of leading photography institutions across Europe and A Woman’s Work, a project that uses photography and digital media to challenge the dominant view of gender and industry in Europe. She is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council, Visual Artists Ireland and Culture Ireland. O’ Connors work is held in the Arts Council of Ireland Collection, UCC Art Collection, Photo Museum Ireland, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Office of Public Works, Galleri Image, Denmark as well as private collections in Ireland, UK, France & Canada.
Member of Visual Artists Ireland.
AWARDS – GRANTS – COMMISSIONS
2026 – Cork County Council, Creative Artist Bursary
2025 – New Irish Works Awards Programme, (2025 – 2027)
2024 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2023 – Cork University Business Schools and The Glucksman (Commission)
2022 – PLATFORM 31 Award
2022 – Roscommon Arts Centre (Commission)
2021 – Arts Council of Ireland, Agility Award
2020 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2020 – Visual Artists Ireland, EXPERIMENT! Award
2020 – A Woman’s Work (In Conjunction with Photo Museum Ireland Ireland)
2019 – Project Arts Centre (Commission with Lívia Páldi + Valerie Connor)
2018 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2018 – FUTURES Platform Selection (In conjunction with PhotoIreland)
2017 – Cork County Council Creative Artist Bursary
2017 – FRESH EYES – Aarhus Capital of Culture (Commission with Galleri Image)
2016 – Source Photographic Review (Commission)
2015 – New York Times Magazine (Commission)
2013 – Nominee for Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards
2013 – National Women’s Council of Ireland (Commission with Valerie Connor)
2012 – Alliance Française Photography Award
2011 – Culture Ireland Funding Award
2008 – 2010 – Higher Education and Training Awards Council, Ireland
PUBLICATIONS
2022 – Condition Report Register (In conjunction with ‘The Fertiliser Spreader’ in ‘A Growing Enquiry – Art & Agriculture, Reconciling Values, at Royal Hibernian Academy)
2020 – Tomorrow is Sunday- ISBN 978-1-907918-08-7 (Published by Gallery of Photography Ireland in conjunction with ‘A Woman’s Work’)
2017 – Tomorrow is Sunday – ISBN 9780995701854 (Published by PhotoIreland in conjunction with New Irish Works)
2013 – The Legacy Project (Self Published in conjunction with NWCI Commission)
2013 – New Irish Works – ISBN 978-0-9576849-0-4 (In conjunction with PhotoIreland)
2012 – Attention Seekers – ISBN 978-3-942547-15-4 (In conjunction with PogoBooks, Berlin + Galleri Image, Denmark)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 – Tomorrow is Sunday, Macroom Town Hall
2021 – Tomorrow is Sunday, Royal Hibernian Academy, Ashford Gallery, Dublin
2020 – Tomorrow is Sunday’, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co. Cork
2017 – New Irish Works II, The Library Project, Dublin
2012 – Attention Seekers, in conjunction with ‘THERE THERE’, Cork, Ireland
2012 – Attention Seekers, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2011 – Attention Seekers, Third Space Gallery, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, UK
2010 – Vote No. 1, Selected Locations, PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin, Ireland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS + PROJECTS
2026 -New Irish Works Exhibition, International Centre for the Image, Dublin
2026 – ‘Not Business As Usual’ in Selected Works from the UCC Art Collection, Glucksman
2025 – DABF25 Curator’s Talk | Cowboys & Shepherds, Fieldwork & Studio, TBG+S
2025 – ‘Agri-Snapshots & Community Clatter – An A-Z’. Text contribution to ‘The Western Point’ in association with ‘Community Spirits’, a project by Laura Fitzgerald
2025 – ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ in Punctum: Works from the Arts Council Collections, glór, Ennis, Co. Clare
2024 – ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ in Modern Nature, Cairde Arts Festival, Sligo
2024 – ‘A Perfect Plan’ in ‘Behind the Curtain’, Visual Carlow, Carlow Arts Festival
2024 – ‘Not Business As Usual’ in Groundwork: Climate awareness in the UCC Art Collection, Glucksman
2024 – ‘Not Business As Usual’ in Radical Archaeologies, Glucksman, Cork
2024 – ‘Other Worlds’ – Regional Cultural Centre, Donegal
2023 – Photo Museum Ireland – National Photography Collection Tour, glór, Ennis, Co. Clare
2023 – ‘This Rural’ The Mill, Lismore Castle Arts (Curatorial Project with Paul McAree)
2023 – ‘Not Business As Usual’ in Radical Archaeologies at The Glucksman, Cork
2022 – ‘IMAGES ARE ALL WE HAVE – PhotoIreland Festival, The Printworks, Dublin Castle
2022 – ‘The Politics of Place’ – Photo Museum of Ireland
2022 – ‘An Animate Land’ – Roscommon Arts Centre, Roscommon
2022 – ‘A Growing Enquiry – Art & Agriculture, Reconciling values’,RHA, Dublin
2022 – National Photography Collection Exhibition, Photo Museum of Ireland
2022 – ‘On Possibilities of Frictions’, A4 Sounds, Dublin
2021 – The Positive Space (In conjunction with Gallery Photography Ireland & Brown Thomas, Dublin)
2021 – Mass Isolation Project (With Gallery Photography Ireland & PHOTO NORTH, Finland)
2020 – ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’, in partnership with ‘A Woman’s Work’ Creative Europe Cooperation Project and Gallery of Photography Ireland
2020 – Cow House Studios, Supported Summer Residency Programme, (Remote Residency)
2020 – Tomorrow is Sunday’, FAST FORWARD, Women in Photography, Bangalore, India
2020 – ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co. Cork
2019- Collaboration with artist Sarah Browne on ‘Public Feeling’, Public Art Commission for In Context 4
2019 – Museum of Contemporary Photography, in conjunction with PhotoIreland, Dublin
2019 – New Irish Works at Fotofestiwal Łódź, Łódź, Poland
2019 – The Parted Veil, The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork
2019 – The Land is Still Being Formed. Sternview Gallery, Cork
2019 – Isla Blue in ‘Active Archive, Slow Institution – The Long Goodbye’, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
2018 – Paris Photo with FUTURES
2018 – Unseen Photofair, Amsterdam with FUTURES
2018 – Interiors and Other Landscapes, Sternview Gallery, Cork
2018 – Encountering The Land, ARTWORKS Carlow Arts Festival at VISUAL
2018 – 188th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
2018- FRESH EYES Project, Godsbanen, Aarhus, Denmark with Galleri Image
2018 – Cabinet Seoul Project, Sallim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea
2017 – FRESH EYES Project, Galleri Image, Denmark
2017 – Post-Picturesque: Photographing Ireland, Rochester Art Centre, Minnesota, USA
2017 – Post-Picturesque: Photographing Ireland, Perlman Museum, Minnesota, USA
2017 – Attention Seekers, Devonshire Collective Gallery, Eastbourne, UK
2017 – New Irish Works II, Photo 17, Zürich, Switzerland
2016 – New Irish Works II, Espace L’Homond, Paris
2016 – ‘Laugh a Defiance’, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
2016 – Greetings from Ireland, Landskrona Foto Festival, Sweden
2016 – PHOTOTROPISM, The Library Project, Dublin
2016 – Folding Landscapes, G126, Galway
2016 – Folding Landscapes, Burren College of Art, Co. Clare
2015 – Annual – Sternview Gallery, Cork
2015 – HALFTONE, The Library Project, Dublin
2015 – VUE, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin with Artbox Gallery
2015 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick
2015 – Blue and green should never be seen, Sternview Gallery, Cork
2015 – (it’s kind of like) telephone, Artbox, Dublin
2015 – Greetings from Ireland, PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin
2015 – Greetings from Ireland, Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Germany
2015 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, The Workhouse Assembly, Callan, Kilkenny
2015 – 185th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
2015 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, Regional Culture Centre, Letterkenny
2015 – Journey to 2017 with FRESH EYES Project, Ridehuset, Aarhus, Denmark
2014 – Greetings from Ireland, The Library Project, Dublin
2014 – Photo Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014 – Now Wakes the Sea in conjunction with Kinsale Arts Festival
2014 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, EU House, Dublin
2014 – Of The Afternoon, Twenty Twenty Two Gallery, Manchester, UK
2014 – Of The Afternoon, Vyner St Gallery Gallery, London, UK
2014 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, Cork City Hall, Cork
2013 – New Irish Works, düo, Paris, France
2013 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, 126 Gallery, Tulca Festival of Visual Arts, Galway
2013 – The Legacy Project in ‘Still, We Work’, Gallery of Photography, Dublin
2013 – Rites & Wrongs, Pingyao International Photography Festival, China (Gallery of Photography)
2013 – New Irish Works, PhotoIreland Festival, Ormston House, Limerick
2012 – Project 30 – Emerging Views of Ireland, Gallery of Photography, Dublin
2012 – Winter Show Open, RUA RED Gallery – Dublin
2012 – About Photography, KAUNAS PHOTO 2012, M.Žilinskas Art Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania
2012 – A Collection curated by Lasse Krog Møller, Galleri Image, Denmark
2012 – 182nd Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
2012 – Alliance Française Photography Shortlist Award, Alliance Française, Dublin
2011 – Winter Show Open, RUA RED Gallery, Dublin
2011 – Annual, Burren College of Art Gallery, Co. Clare
2011 – The 4th Gemini Show!, Berlin
2010 – Vote No. 1 in conjunction with UPSTART, Selected Locations, Dublin
RESIDENCIES
2020 – Cow House Studios, Supported Summer Residency Programme, (Remote Residency)
2016 – FRESH EYES – International Artists Rethink Aarhus, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2015 – Burren College of Art Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award, Ireland [EIARA]
2014 – FRESH EYES – International Artists Rethink Aarhus, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2014 – Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France
COLLABORATIONS
2019 – Collaboration with artist Sarah Browne on Public feeling a public art commission in conjunction with incontext4, Dublin
2016 – Collaboration with artist Jesse Jones on Laugh a Defiance in conjunction with ‘My Brilliant Friend’, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
2016 – Collaboration with artist Jesse Jones on publications associated with NO MORE FUN AND GAMES, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
2014- 2016 – Collaboration with artists Sarah Browne + Jesse Jones on In the Shadow of the State,Various locations in Ireland & the UK
COLLECTIONS
Arts Council of Ireland Collection, UCC Art Collection, Photo Museum Ireland, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Office of Public Works, Galleri Image, Denmark.
Private Collections in Ireland, UK, France & Canada.
EDUCATION
2008 – 2011 – Research Masters ( Funded by HETAC )
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology, Dublin, Ireland
2003 – 2007 – BA (Hons) Photography
Technological University, Dublin, Ireland