Sinead O'Donnell

Sinéad O’Donnell is a Belfast based Irish artist who, for over 20 years, has worked in performance, installation, and site and time-based art that explores identity, borders, and barriers through encounters with territory and the territorial. Born in Dublin in 1975, she moved to Belfast in 1995 to study sculpture at the University of Ulster, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine & Applied Arts in 1999 before completing her MA (Hons) in Visual Performance & Time-Based Art Practices at Dartington College of Arts in England in 2004. Through her work, Sinéad has travelled extensively, performing at solo exhibitions and international festivals all over the world, as well as delivering workshops and completing residencies in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Thailand, Germany, and Lebanon. In 2017, Sinéad was a recipient of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Major Artists Award which enabled her to develop a significant body of work over a 12-month period titled Crossing Permissions, a commission by the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown. The project saw Sinéad engage and collaborate with women in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia, and explored the theme of permissions and the female body across different cultures and continents. As part of this work, Sinéad published an accompanying book, also titled Crossing Permissions.

This archive contains material kindly donated by Sinéad O’Donnell as part of the extraORDINARYwomen project at the Linen Hall Library. It consists of publicity material and ephemera pertaining to her performance pieces and exhibitions from 2006 – 2019, including, Ares (2006), Art of Begegnung comes tomorrow slowly (2012), CAUTION (2012), and The Unknown (2016). Sinéad O'Donnell's publications, CAUTION (2012) and Crossing Permissions (2019) are available to consult at the Linen Hall Library by appointment.