Maeve Brennan
- Associate lecturer
- Photography MA
Maeve Brennan is an artist and filmmaker based in London.
As well as her role as Associate Lecturer on MA Photography at RCA, Brennan teaches on the MA Artist Film & Moving Image at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has taught at a number of universities including Kingston School of Art; UCL; Liverpool John Moores and Newcastle University.
She was Stanley Picker Fine Art Fellow at Kingston University (2019–22) and Sainsbury Scholar at British School at Rome (2023).
She graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London and was a fellow of the Homework Space Program at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut.
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Research interests
Maeve Brennan's practice explores the political and historical resonance of material and place. Working across moving image, installation, sculpture and printed matter, her works excavate layered histories, revealing the unseen structures that determine our lived environment. Her long-term investigations, led by personal encounters, seek forms of knowledge that engage with the ‘underground’ – geologists, archaeologists, conservators, smugglers, looters, joyriders. Within the context of an extractive history, forms of repair are central to her work and her films often observe the quiet work of figures who maintain, restore and reassemble.
Practice
Brennan is shortlisted for the Jarman Award 2024 and is in residence at Somerset House Studios, London.
Solo exhibitions include:
VISUAL Carlow, Ireland; Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, E-WERK Freiburg (both 2023)
Stanley Picker Gallery, London (2022)
Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (2018)
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku, Finland (2018)
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2018)
Chisenhale Gallery, London(2017)
Spike Island, Bristol (2017)
The Whitworth, Manchester (2017)
Brennan’s work was featured in British Art Show 9 (2021-22) and her films have been screened internationally at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt; CPH:DOX; Open City Documentary Festival; International Film Festival Rotterdam; FILMADRID; Sheffield Doc Fest and Sonic Acts, Amsterdam.
Awards
Shortlisted for Jarman Award 2024, UK (2024)
The Elephant Trust Grant (2024)
VISIO European Programme on Artist Moving Image (shortlist), Florence (2023)
New:Vision Award (shortlist), CPH:DOX, Copenhagen (2023)
Sainsbury Scholarship, British School at Rome (2022)
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists (2021)
Thinking Time, Artangel (2021)
Develop Your Creative Practice, Arts Council England (2021)
Stanley Picker Fine Art Fellowship (2019–22)
Tiger Shorts, International Film Festival Rotterdam (shortlist) (2018)
The Arts Foundation 25th Anniversary Awards (shortlist) (2018)
Jerwood/FVU Award (2018)
Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England (2016)
AFAC, Visual Arts Grant for The Drift with Spike Island (2016)
Nigel Greenwood Research Award (2016)
Video Works, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2014)
Nicolas and Andrei Tooth Travelling Scholarship, Goldsmiths, University of London (2012)
Hamad Butt Memorial Prize, Goldsmiths, University of London (2011)