Daphne Wright (born 1963) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

visual artist, who makes sculptural installations using a variety of techniques and media to explore how a range of languages and materials can be used to probe unspoken human preoccupations. Recent international exhibition highlights include ''Hotspot'', Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, curated by

Gerardo Mosquera Gerardo Mosquera (born 1945 in Havana, Cuba) is a freelance curator, critic, art historian, and writer based in Havana, Cuba. He was one of the organizers of the first Havana Biennial in 1984 and remained central to the curatorial team until he re ...

; Daphne Wright: Prayer Project, Davis Museum, USA, Portals; the Hellenic Parliament wit
ΝΕΟΝ, Athens
Infinite Sculpture, Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. Wright curated the 2018 exhibition
The Ethics of Scrutiny
' at the

Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art ( ga, Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann) also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. Located in Kilmainham, Dublin, the Museum pr ...

as part of th
Freud Project
Wright has received the

Paul Hamlyn Award Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, The Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, and The British School of Rome fellowship. She is a member of Aosdana and is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London.

Education

Wright was born in 1963, in Co. Longford, Ireland. She studied at the Atlantic Technological University, Sligo between 1981–1985,

National College of Art & Design The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of th ...

, Dublin between 1985–87 and between 1989–1991 at Newcastle-upon -Tyne Polytechnic.

Work

Wright's work is "concerned with boundaries and the transitory areas of life, exploring the cusp of childhood and adulthood, as well as the spaces and borderlines between life and death." As described by Robert Preece, "Using a wide range of materials and techniques—plaster, tin foil, video, printmaking, found objects, and performance—she creates beautiful and rather eerie worlds that feel like the threshold to somewhere new." Wright's most recent body of work was shown in
A quiet mutiny
' in

Crawford Art Gallery The Crawford Art Gallery ( ga, Áiléar Crawford) is a public art gallery and museum in the city of Cork, Ireland. Known informally as the Crawford, it was designated a 'National Cultural Institution' in 2006. It is "dedicated to the visual arts ...

, 2019 an
''A quiet mutiny - persists''
2020 at Frith Street Gallery London. In this body of work Wright creates worlds that are beautifully eerie: familiar objects from everyday life come under the artist’s scrutiny including buggies, houseplants, tall homegrown sunflowers, a fridge and a child’s drawing. Expanding on her existing sculptural practice, Wright focuses on the materiality of dry, unfired clay creating a dichotomy of familiarity and fragility. Wright’s objects are chosen for their momentary quality, these objects are only fleetingly valued in our daily lives. This work builds on Wrights extensive on-going series of figurative sculpture works, including the pieces
Kitchen Table
' (2014), a Jesmonite cast of the two figures of the artists sons, two chairs and table with oil cloth, hand-painted in watercolour. Other sculpture works such as
Stallion
' (2009) consist of the cast of a dead stallion, positioned by the artist, and rendered in marble dust and resin. Recent video works of note include
Is everyone OK?
' (2019),
Song of Songs
' (2019) and ''I know what it's like'' (2012).

Exhibitions

Wright's work is shown in both solo and group exhibitions in Britain and internationally. Recent exhibition highlights include: 2022: ''Hotspot'', Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; ''No Time to Spare'', Tap-gol Museum of Art, Seoul Welfare Center for the Elderly; 2021:
Portals
', former Public Tobacco Factory – Hellenic Parliament Library and Printing House, a collaboration between the Hellenic Parliament an
ΝΕΟΝ, Athens
Greece; 2020: ''A quiet mutiny - persists'', Frith Street Gallery, London (solo); ''Infinite Sculpture: From the Antique Cast to the 3D Scan'', Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon; 2019: ''Daphne Wright: a quiet mutiny'', Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (solo); ''Infinite Sculpture: Casts and Copies from the antique to today'', Musée des Beaux Arts, Paris; ''The Size of Thoughts'', White Conduit Projects, London; ''RWA Sculpture Open'',

Royal West of England Academy The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...

, Bristol; ''Domestic Bliss'',

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the main gallery of contemporary art in Glasgow, Scotland. GoMA offers a programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops. GoMA displays work by local and international artists as well as addressing contempora ...

; 2017: ''Daphne Wright: Prayer Project'',

Davis Museum at Wellesley College The Davis Museum in Wellesley, Massachusetts is located on the Wellesley College campus. The college art collection was first displayed in the Farnsworth Art Building, founded in 1889. The museum in its present form opened in 1993 in a building ...

, MA (solo);
Emotional Archaeology
', Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (solo); ''Kapı Çalana Açılır'', Abdülmecid Efendi Köşkü, Üsküdar, Istanbul; 2016:
Emotional Archaeology
',

Arnolfini, Bristol Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...

and National Trust, Tyntesfield (solo); 2015: ''At a time'',

Limerick City Gallery of Art Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA; ga, Gailearaí Ealaíon Chathair Luimní) is an art museum in the city of Limerick, Ireland. It is run by Limerick City Council and is located in Pery Square, in the Newtown Pery area of the city. The galle ...

, Limerick (solo); ''Qwaypurlake'',

Hauser & Wirth Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery. History Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...

Somerset, Bruton; ''Plura'' (Project Spaces),

, Dublin; 2010: Frith Street Gallery, London (solo); 2009: ''The Prayer Project,'' The Quad Gallery, Derby, 2006: ''Sires'',

, Ireland (solo). Wright has produced a series of large-scale commissions and her work is housed in many collections internationally; 'Still life' at

Hanbury Hall Hanbury Hall is a large 18th-century stately home standing in parkland at Hanbury, Worcestershire. The main range has two storeys and is built of red brick in the Queen Anne style. It is a Grade I listed building, and the associated Orangery a ...

, Worcester, 'Plura',

South Tipperary County Council South Tipperary County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Thiobraid Árann Theas) was the authority responsible for Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in the county of South Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The co ...

and IMMA

, 'Stallion'
VISUAL Carlow
Ireland, 'Home Ornaments',

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportun ...

, Glasgow, in association wit
CWZG Architects
an
The Artworks Programme
and

GOMA Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

, Glasgow, 'Theses Talking Walls
New Art Centre

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, 'Prayer Project' Derby wit
Picture This Bristol
and 'Garden of Reason',

Ham House Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, an Elizabethan cou ...

and Garden, Richmond. Her work is housed in the collections of

, Dublin;

, Cork; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow;

Hamburger Kunsthalle The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...

, Hamburg, Germany;

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin;

Towner Art Gallery Towner Art Gallery is located in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. It hosts one of the most significant public art collections in the South of England and draws over 100,000 visitors a year. It was described by ITV News a ...

, Sussex (purchased through

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...

and

Arts Council of England The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

) an
Vehbi Koç Collection
Istanbul, Turkey, amongst many others.

Recognition

Wright has received the following awards and fellowships;

Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the arti ...

Fellowship, Manchester Metropolitan University
Cheltenham Fellowship

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture. History The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...

br>Award in Sculpture
and the 1996

Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn, (12 February 1926 – 31 August 2001) was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist, who established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987. Early life He was born Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger in Berlin, Ger ...

Award.National Irish Visual Arts Library
National Irish Visual Arts Library
Retrieved 17 June 2013

References

External links

Aosdána

Circa, Summer 2004

Garden of Reason- Daphne Wright, Artist Profile

The Artworks Programme

Picture This, Works & Projects

Now Wakes the Sea, Kinsal Arts Festival

Daphne Wright at Frith Street Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Daphne Aosdána members Irish contemporary artists 1963 births Living people Irish women artists Alumni of the National College of Art and Design Alumni of the Institute of Technology, Sligo