Theo Hynan-Ratcliffe
Theo is a sculptor, writer and creative producer from Co. Clare. She received a first class BA Honours in Sculpture & Combined Media from Limerick School of Art & Design in 2020
Theo completed her master’s degree in Art Writing from Glasgow School of Art in 2023 and is a member of spacecraft Artists’ Studios in Limerick city. Theo has recently been awarded her second Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland to develop her writing/making practice, currently working towards an exhibition of new work to be shown in both Ireland and the UK in 2025.
Her work engages with contemporary myth-making, with the idea of aftermatter, residues of matter in the aftermath of action, matter which embodies and evidences the wake of its own action, inquiring into our human intra-relation to the generation of matter, moments which explore physical accumulations of time, and human tendency towards the generation of matter; thinking through the formations of the Burren to consider our current environmental shifts, the ecological concerns of the climate crisis and ways of naturalizing to place through contemporary rituals of reciprocity with the matter/sites in our lives. This body of practice holds space for material encounters, for the exploration of memories and material attentions towards sites, matter, and labours of making. Her practice moves from writing, to casting, to papermaking, photography, video, utilizing all of these elements to create installations, exhibitions, publications.
Alongside this she works as Co. Editor of The Paper an online visual arts publication. She has published work with Circa Art magazine, Bloomers alongside other national and international publications and she is currently working on a piece of fiction for Issue 11 of Mirror Lamp Press launching Summer 2025. Theo will be undertaking a research residency this Summer with PADA Studios in Portugal and was recently selected as one of the artists to represent spacecraft Artists Studios at Supermarket an international artist-led art fair in Stockholm Sweden in April 2025.