My name is Ailbhe Wheatley and I am a writer and visual artist based in East Clare.
I hold a B.A in English Literature from Trinity College, Dublin, and completed a Masters in Authorial Illustration at Falmouth in 2023. My background in yoga teaching and philosophy informs my artistic practice, which explores themes of interrelationship and embodiment.
Inspired by journeys (both of land and of mind), figures of speech and creatures of all kinds, my art reflects a love of play - of discovering the world afresh. It is influenced by my childhood growing up in rural Ireland, and a series of adventures (and misadventures) living abroad. The exploration of other cultures and landscapes is a core part of my practice.
I am currently working on a collection of paintings, essays and poems under the made up term Em-BOG-iment, which questions whether it is possible to inhabit the space between mind and body, past and present, self and other, becoming undone and being made whole. These ‘picture stories’ are observations of an unchanging landscape – an inner, open field as imaginary as it is real and felt.
artist statement:
When I paint I am poised, swept into the colours, waiting for that tiny moment of affirmation when the world makes sense again. My visual practice is a way to imagine, rediscover an ideal. When I write, I am feeling it all, rummaging my way through a flurry of thoughts and emotions. I write to release. I make art to step out of my current experience, if only very briefly.
The basis of my practice is storytelling. This is a multidimensional practice which incorporates poetry, drawing, movement, photography, performance and.. listening. It is, in its essence, a conversation with the world.
Creation becomes a means of peeling back the layers, an inner experience drawn through the imagination.
All is rooted in the wild - in the wild home of the heart, or the mystery of a feather.
Education:
2022 - 2023
M.A Authorial Illustration
Falmouth University, Cornwall
2015 - 2019
B.A. English Literature
Trinity College, Dublin
PERSONAL STATEMENT: ART AS HOPE
My hope is that through writing and art-making, I can provide a healing of sorts. Through these practices I seek to soften the divides between people, plants and creatures - to make this world a more comfortable place, if even for a moment.
I hope you find solace and safety here, or at least a sweet release.
I hope that we heal in togetherness - butterflies, birds, bees and trees (and of course you and I).
And I hope we can always remember the love that inhabits us, both inside and out - even when we cannot feel it, even when we are blind to it.. and even when we are broken.
Above all I seek to magnify the everyday, ordinary, sublime..
to discover the world with you.
