Ella O’Sullivan

Bio

I use printmaking in my practice to explore ecological concepts surrounding people and nature. I create mixed media pieces that explore this relationship by using symbolic imagery and a gothic inspired aesthetic done through expanded printmaking. My work seeks to create interspecies ideas through a collage of the figure merging with natural aspects, in an attempt to explore the relationship we share with the natural world.

A fascination with the past and the evolution of how things have turned out bleeds into my work, especially that of personal history, which has been forgotten. Influenced by ideas from the likes of Timothy Morton, mixed with the gothic aesthetics of Ann Radcliffe, my practice is a hopeful ode to the natural world and an exploration of the rifts that have formed between us and it.

My work investigates a comparative between the disconnect of family heritage due to the passage of time, and the growing disconnect between civilisation and the environment. I showcase this through collaging the old world with the natural world in an installation that aims to reflect on the past, and be a reminder to cherish the natural world, and to grow from both.

Artist Statement

Ella is a cork based printmaker, graduating with a First Class Honours in Fine Art BA in 2026. She received the Cork Printmakers 12-month Bursary Award, Backwater Artist Group Artist Network Award and was long-listed for the RDS Visual Art Award after the Crawford 2026 degree show, Second Hand Smoke. In the autumn of 2026, she will be involved in the Cork Craft and Design EMERGE Exhibit and the MTU Student Engagement Exhibition

Through repeated patterns and colour combinations, I begin to realise an abstracted world of my own creation, which reflects my crowded thoughts. The pressed wire grids represent cohesion and confusion coming together, how we are all made of little fissures and cracks. These become more prominent and permanent under continued pressure. I use open-weave scrim fabric, often used as a disposable material in the printmaking process, which highlights the importance of process in my practise and introduces movement to the fabric.