Abigail O’Brien, born in 1957, lives and works in Ireland.
Abigail O’Brien’s work fuses fine art practices with traditional forms of object making and employs many media including photography, sculpture, video, sound and hand-made embroidered objects. O’Brien’s work explores themes such as ritual, rites of passage and the domestic realm. These rituals are both an anchor and a noose and are a way of navigating the complexities of life.
She has just completed her treatise on The Cardinal Virtues – Fortitude (2005), Temperance (2009), Prudence (2017) and Justice (2021).
Previously, O’Brien worked on her series The Seven Sacraments (1995–2004), inspired by the work of Nicolas Poussin. The sacraments act as a catalyst and are interpreted through secular ideas and discourses. The full suite of installations were shown in Haus Der Kunst, Munich in 2004 and the RHA Gallery, Dublin in 2005. O’Brien’s work features in private and public collections including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; the Caldic Collection, Rotterdam; the Museum of Modern Art, Vienna; The Kunstmuseum, The Hague; and Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico City.
She received her MA in Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1998. She was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by the National University of Ireland in 2019.
O’Brien was elected as President of the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 2018, the first female president of the RHA since its foundation 200 years ago. Her term has been extended until 2024. She is a Member of the Boards of the National Gallery of Ireland and The Highlands Gallery, Drogheda.
Dr. Abigail O’Brien PRHA interview with on the occassion of the exhibition Justice – Never Enough, Highlanes Gallery. View HERE
Justice – Never Enough, Highlanes Gallery, exhibition view. View HERE