Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh

Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh
6 July to 5 August 2026

Lecture performance with Artist in Residence Maitiú Mac Cártaigh

11.30am, Friday 31 July

This residency will allow me to resolve work for two upcoming exhibitions in September 2026. As an interdisciplinary practitioner, I explore the sexual politics of rural Ireland. I am particularly interested in the ways Queer identity is de-sexualised and de-politicised to allow for greater acceptance and assimilation of Queer individuals into cis-het dominant culture. While on residency, I will work with materials connected to ideas of plasticity, the biodegradable and artificial insemination.

Materially, I present my work through installation and publication, drawing on expanded print-media, sculpture, video and sound. My current material research focuses on bioplastics handmade with agar and gelatine alongside materials found in Co-Ops such as polywire, baler twine, silage plastic wrap and artificial insemination (AI) gloves.

I aim to use this residency to resolve work for exhibition and further develop a Country Boys Make Do methodology. This methodology focuses on the potentiality of materials and aims to break notions of rurality as backward, static or regressive. Pushing for an understanding that rurality works as a site of complex interconnectivity.

Growing up Queer in West Cork has become the central focus of my artistic practice. My practice engages with a rapidly changing rural Ireland, shedding light on overlooked Queer histories and narratives. Too often, Queer identity is presented as synonymous with the urban and metropolitan. I challenge these assumptions through my practice, highlighting the distinct anti-normative realities of Queer-ness in rural and agri-spaces.

In 2023, Maitiú graduated from the MA in Artistic Research (KABK, Den Haag) after receiving a first-class honours in BA (Hons) Fine Art (Crawford College of Art and Design MTU). Throughout their MA, they exhibited in Ireland, as well as in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Poland. Following their graduation show, Maitiú was shortlisted for the RDS Visual Art Awards 2023. Their BA degree work was purchased by the O.P.W. and  included in Person / Presence / Perception, an all island of Ireland travelling exhibition with the Office of Public Works and Northern Ireland Department of Finance.

Maitiú has been awarded a The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon visual artist bursary award 2026 in support of their work. 

@maitiumaccarthaigh

Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre acknowledges the financial support of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon in making these residencies possible.