Maeve Brennan is an artist and filmmaker based in London. Her practice explores the political and historical resonance of material and place. Working primarily with moving image as well as installation, sculpture and printed matter, she develops long-term investigations led by personal encounters. Adopting a documentary approach, Brennan gains intimacy and proximity with her subjects, producing complex and layered accounts that disrupt dominant representations. With a particular focus on forms of expertise that encompass an associated physical practice – geologists, archaeologists, architects, mechanics, embroiderers – her works excavate the multiple narratives latent in material itself.
Brennan graduated from Goldsmiths in 2012 and was a fellow at the Home Workspace Programme at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2013–14). Recent solo exhibitions include Chisenhale Gallery, London; Spike Island, Bristol; The Whitworth, University of Manchester; Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin; Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku, Finland and Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria. Her films have screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam; FILMADRID; Sheffield Doc Fest and Sonic Acts, Amsterdam. She received the Jerwood/FVU Award 2018 and is the current Stanley Picker Art & Design Fellow (2019–22). Her work will be included in the forthcoming British Art Show 9 (2021-22).
