Sorcha Frances Ryder is a visual artist & photographer based in Dublin, Ireland. Her practice is primarily analog photography & mixed media.
Sorcha Frances Ryder (b. 1998) is a Dublin-based visual artist and fine art photographer. In 2021 she graduated with First Class Honours (BA) in Fine Art Print & Contemporary Practice from the Limerick School of Art & Design.
Her work deals with themes of identity, belonging, and transitions from youth to adulthood, with elements of the uncanny and abject personhood. Through intimate portraiture and narrative scenes set in domestic or personal spaces, Ryder makes deeply personal expressions of her personhood that are uncompromising in their rawness and honesty in portraying the life of a struggling twenty-something. Her most recent work is a candid expression of her life after college, while also acting as a microcosm of the larger issue of a generation who feel unsure of their futures and let down by the systems that are in place. Ryder captures herself and loved ones in brief and sentimental moments of transition, through the time-sensitive, empathetic medium of analog photography. Through these works, Ryder embraces and deconstructs the inevitable challenges and unavoidable experiences of change.
She fluidly translates her distinctive visual style and injects her personality into her work with clients, including The Mary Wallopers, Lankum and more.
Recently, she has exhibited across Ireland, including the Limerick City Gallery of Art, the 126 Gallery (Galway), OUTSET Gallery (Galway), and the National Gallery of Ireland as a shortlisted artist for the Zurich Portrait Prize 2022, where she gained notoriety for her piece, ‘My Bedroom As A Depressed College Graduate’ and again in 2023 for her piece 'Wide Awake'.
She is currently based in Dublin 24.
WORK FEATURED IN (PUBLICATIONS) : MOJO, NME, Hot Press Magazine, DISTRICT magazine, The Guardian, The Irish Times, RTÉ Culture, NPR Music, Rough Trade Records, Nialler9, Irish Arts Review, National Gallery of Ireland ZPP 2022 Catalogue, LUNA magazine, and more.
EDUCATION
BA (First Class Hons)in Fine Art Print & Contemporary Practice, Limerick School of Art & Design - 2017-2021
FETAC Level 5 in Art, Design & Mixed Media, Ballyfermot College of Further Education - 2016-2017
Exhibitions
SOLO SHOWS
Days That Last Forever + Friends Who Never Have To Go Home - The MAGNET, Dublin (2023)
GROUP SHOWS
A Most Tender Tug of War (Dual show) - The 126 Gallery, Galway (2024)
Zurich Portrait Prize 2023 (Shortlisted Artist) - The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2023)
Zurich Portrait Prize 2022 (Shortlisted Artist) - The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2022)
Outset Xmas Open - Outset Gallery, Galway (2022)
PULSE - Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick (2022)
MAXIMALISM - Spacecraft Gallery + Studios, Limerick (2022)
K-FEST 2021 - Killorglin, County Kerry (2021)
Cinemagic Film Festival - Belfast (2021)
Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival - Offaly (2021)
RALLY - online degree show for LSAD graduates (Class of 2021)
Novas Ireland Fundraiser in Sailor's Home - Limerick City (2018)
King John's Castle, Group Show - Limerick City (2017)
