Kelley O’Brien

Kelley O’Brien is an interdisciplinary artist working in the American South. Kelley’s work negotiates boundaries between industrial and “natural” landscapes, to explore cultural links between history and ecology. Human and environmental systems intertwine to form the core of her practice, often taking the form of time-based media and installations to offer a glimpse into personal and collective experiences across spaces of heightened social and environmental importance. She has exhibited at Art Station (Bahrain), CICA Museum (Korea), National College of Art and Design (Ireland), Stroboskop Art Space (Poland) as well as Transformer Station, McDonough Museum of Art and The Everson Museum of Art in the United States. Kelley has been awarded grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ArtsGreensboro, Ohio Arts Council, Wexford Arts Council, and a Fulbright Scholarship to the Philippines.

Her artistic practice extends into her academic and curatorial research through collaborative projects with Francis Halsall under the title “Mapping Systems.” Collectively they have held workshops, lecture courses, and curated residencies in Ireland, the United States and the Philippines. Through her art, curatorial, and collaborative research practices, O’Brien seeks to highlight precarious and indeterminate environments to give power to untold histories and providing underrepresented perspectives as alternative ways to critically engage with our ecosystems locally and globally.

 

Image: Installation view of Liberation of Terra Superna, 2021, Photo by Kelley O'Brien.