Grace McMurray uses knitting, patchwork, embroidery, installation and weaving to create artworks that question stereotypes, gendered spaces, and social conditioning in the public imagination. Their work subverts function and makes tangible the processing of personal narratives and constant accumulation of invisible unpaid labour.
ARTIST BIO
Grace McMurray is an artist based in Belfast and Rathfriland. They graduated with a BA in Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art London in 2008. Recent projects include Irish Modernisms, CCA Derry~Londonderry (2021), the 251st Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts London (2019), and the Jerwood Drawing Prize at Jerwood Arts London (2017). They won the Arts Club Award at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2019). Grace is a member of Array, the Belfast-based arts and activist collective that won the Turner Prize in 2021.
Shattered, 2022, Grace McMurray, 20.5cm (h) x 26cm (w) x 2.5cm (d), wool, wooden board.
Top Left: An installation of shot of Nest and Portal at Irish Modernisms CCA Derry~Londonderry 2021. (Image credit: CCA Derry~Londonderry 2021 & Paola Bernardelli)
Detail of Who is She, Who is She?, 2020, Grace McMurray, 78cm (h) x 52cm (w) Graphite on Card Weave, Framed Mirror.
Lay by me, 2022 Grace McMurray, 99x42x20cm, Hanging Fabric Patchwork.
Grace’s Works reflect on loss, shame, isolation and relationships. They attempt to reconstruct a sense of self and map a psychogeography of the body.
I grieve differently (Underneath), 2022, Grace McMurray, 25.5cm (h) x 20.5cm (w) x 2.5cm (d), acrylic wool, board.
Mondrian Jumper, 2019, Grace McMurray, 71x57x11cm, Sheep and Cotton Wool.
Infinity Room, 2022, Grace McMurray, 54x46cm, Acrylic Wool.
