Gail Ritchie
Gail Ritchie was born in Newtownards, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. She studied at Ulster University (BA Hons. 1991) and at Queens University Belfast (MA Arts Management 2013). In 2022 she completed a practice based PhD in International Relations using visual art to research how the NI Troubles could be commemorated in material form. Previously, Gail was a member of Backwater Artists Group Cork before relocating to Belfast and joining Queen Street Studios in 2003. Since then, her practice has centred on making, writing and research. She has received awards from Arts Council Ireland, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Cultural Relations Committee, the British Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. In 2023 she was awarded the Basil Chubb Political Science prize for her thesis ‘The im/material monument’.
Image Titles
1. Time: A Structure of Nothingness. Mixed media. 46 x 46 x 6cm. 2022
2. Elegies for the dead. Installation view. Naughton Gallery Belfast. All engraved text on polished granite. 2022.
3. Drifting. From Elegies for the Dead. Engraved text on granite. 80 x 130 cm
4. Airship Study: Air held by air. Acrylic on paper, 20 x 30 cm. 2021
5. Cloakroom Study. Pastel and charcoal on paper. 45 x 55 cm. 2020.
6. The Shape of Mourning(detail). Bioplastic, wire. 40 x 40 cm. 2022.