Sarah Long

Sarah Long is an artist and writer. Her work focuses on suppressed female archetypes, the politics of representation, nationhood, and myth through the lens of feminism. 

 

In painting, Long positions the bodily in the tradition of landscape to contest the historical male gaze. In parallel, the mediums of writing, sound, and performance enable her to fictionalise contemporary experience through the persona of Mary, an autofictional character. 

 

The work engages with Irish cultural moments that continue to haunt and shape our identities, such as The Famine (An Gorta Mór), colonisation, the relationship between religion and mythology, and the personification and politicisation of the land.

 

Recent solo shows include St. Luke’s Crypt, Cork (2023); SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin (2021); Sternview Gallery, Cork (2020); and Studio 12, Backwater Artist Group, Cork (2019). Her debut novella W/w was published by Bloomers in 2024. Her work is in public and private collections, including the OPW and Dublin City University. Recent performances include Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh (2024). Her radio play Mary, mary (quite contrary) formed part of the Radio Solstice programme for Cork Midsummer Festival (2024). She holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Crawford College of Art & Design. In 2022, she graduated from Glasgow School of Art with an MLitt in Art Writing and received the John Calcutt Award for Critical Writing.

Long’s autofiction writings are in numerous publications including; Pala Press, MAP Magazine, Tír na nÓg Literary Journal; and This is not a biography*, an anthology of biographical fictioning published by The Yellow Paper Press (2023).