Hannah Mooney - Lightshift: Gormleys Dublin

Gormleys is delighted to present Lightshift, a solo exhibition by award-winning Irish artist Hannah Mooney (b. 1995). The exhibition takes place in Gormleys Dublin from 10 – 30 September. 

Based in County Mayo, Mooney is recognised for her evocative paintings of the Irish landscape, capturing the shifting qualities of light, atmosphere and memory through expressive, contemporary painting. 

Mooney graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2017. Following graduation, she held acclaimed solo exhibitions in Edinburgh and across the UK. Mooney also received several prestigious awards, including a scholarship from the Royal Scottish Academy and a year long bursary from the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation.  

Since returning to Ireland in 2020, Mooney has established her practice in County Mayo, while exhibiting at both the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA). Lightshift marks her first solo exhibition in Ireland and brings together a significant body work, of landscape and still life paintings.  

Drawing inspiration from the landscapes surrounding her home, including Clew Bay, Lough Mask, the Nephin mountain range and the rugged coastline of the west of Ireland, Mooney's paintings emerge from sustained observation and continued encounters with place. Rather than painting the landscape literally, her work distils the fleeting sensations of weather, light and atmosphere into richly layered compositions that balance representation with abstraction. 

"Spending time in these places and experiencing them at different times of day and throughout the seasons informs my studio practice. Equally, it nourishes the internal landscape within me and the spirit of place that echoes throughout this body of work." 

Working across a range of scales, Mooney allows herself to move fluidly between expressive mark-making and carefully observed form. Her paintings seek to capture not only the physical landscape but also the emotional resonance of place, transforming remembered experiences into compositions charged with energy and movement. 

Alongside her landscapes, Lightshift includes a series of still life paintings of flowers, many created on dark gesso grounds. These works explore the interplay of light and darkness, revealing the artist's interest in colour, composition and the expressive possibilities of paint. Often developed over weeks or months, the paintings reflect a process of continual revision, resulting in works that possess both clarity and quiet intensity. 

"As the seasons change and my sense of the landscape develops, every day brings something new. In this exhibition I have tried to capture a balance between light, darkness, turbulence and calm. Ultimately, I wish to convey a sense of transience that is true to the Irish landscape and my experience as an artist living in Ireland." 
 

Lightshift celebrates the enduring power of Irish landscape while showcasing an artist whose distinctive visual language continues to evolve. Through luminous colour, expressive brushwork and an intuitive response to the natural world, Hannah Mooney invites viewers to experience familiar places anew, revealing the beauty and transience found within Ireland's landscape.