STORY

“As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.” – John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

Kate Byrne is a contemporary artist based in Dublin. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2013. 

She is inspired by historical landscapes, urban spaces, and the stillness of abandoned places, leading her to seek out and explore the magic secreted in nooks and corners that are sometimes forgotten. Drawn to remnants of the past, her practice involves foraging in old cottages, barns, boatyards, collecting fragments – peeling paint, weathered surfaces, and discarded materials. 

Beyond the studio, she can be found spending time rowing old Irish currachs with a group of fisherman friends. As they navigate the coastline, they collect not only stories but also waste and debris that wash ashore. These salvaged elements often find their way into her paintings and collages, layered and transformed through imprinting and abstraction.

In recent years, her exploration of space has expanded to include human experiences. Working in homeless services has deepened her understanding of how people shape and are shaped by their environments. This has led her to question: What turns a space into a place? Where do physical and emotional boundaries begin to blur? Social care, much like art, requires a delicate negotiation of presence and distance, connection and separation. These themes continue to influence her practice.

She is currently working on a series of essays which explore such ideas, using theoretical reflections to inform her visual work. ‘Where Sky Meets Sea’ is a series of large-scale paintings that capture surface textures, graffiti, and architectural fragments, layering them onto canvas where seas meet skies and boundaries dissolve. This work is an ongoing exploration of the spaces we inhabit and things we leave behind.