Clara McSweeney

Clara McSweeney is a Fine Art Painting and Contemporary Practice graduate of the Limerick School of Art and Design. She received the Innovation in Practice award 2020 for her degree show body of work. She is currently working with Ireland at Venice as a mediator in the Irish Pavillion after completing her postgraduate degree in Cultural Event Management from IADT Dun Laoghaire.

She is also practising as a visual artist and is an active member of Limerick Print Makers and The Darkroom Dublin. Her present artistic achievements/experience to date included being awarded, runner- up in The Screaming Pope Prize 2021 at K-Fest emerging arts festival, completing a two-month residency in PADA studios and gallery in Barreiro Portugal, completing a four-month graduate residency at The Darkroom Dublin and showcasing ‘Women from the Inside’ a collaborative photography project in The Belltable Limerick.

Some upcoming achievements include being awarded a residency with Creative Spark Dundalk in 2023 and being awarded The Agility Award for the Women from the Inside Collective to continue creating work based on the Women of Limerick City.

Clara McSweeney Project Description

Limerick City, where I have lived for six years, captured my attention during my residency period. Construction had begun for the new Opera Square, a development amid an existing Georgian neighbourhood. As construction commenced, numerous Georgian houses and their underground cellar systems were being demolished. This heightened my awareness of the Georgian architecture that surrounded me every day and how it was slowly disappearing. 

I wandered with a camera around the Georgian neighbourhood known as Newtown Pery, which is Limerick’s city centre today. I began to notice eye-catching features such as the steps, doors, windows, and balconies and how owners displayed their individuality with nearly every entrance being subtly different from its neighbour. These distinct features undoubtedly reminded me of this historic time. A time that should be preserved, reconstructed or recycled to integrate into the new infrastructure in this growing city, not demolished to build yet another office block.  

Urban Innovation Limerick has begun refurbishing historic buildings to accommodate modern living. There are several Georgian buildings in disrepair that are now being redeveloped for people to live in. I was very lucky to have documented one such building, 58 O’Connell Street for this project. However there are still many buildings in disrepair and hopefully, they will be restored rather than demolished or allowed to fall into further decay.

I created several darkroom prints, cyanotype on fabric prints and a super 8 video over the four-month graduate residency.