Julie Merriman

Marking a surface, as a system of communication, has lost little of its relevance today; the means may be more varied but the essence of the act remains fundamentally unchanged. Her work is a continuation and a disruption of this process. Using present-day and historical data as research material, she investigates modes of inscription, replication and transmission.

Merriman employs obsolete office copying materials in making her work; carbon paper, typewriter film and Gestetner wax stencils, alongside mechanical devices, typewriters and Mimeograph duplicating machines such as the Neo Cyclostyle Gestetner, c.1890. Developed in the late nineteenth century, these machines met a growing demand in business to copy and replicate words and imagery efficiently. Filtering arrangements of marks through these materials and devices, and activating them, is an important aspect of her working process.

Awards: Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council 2021 & 2019; The Markievicz Award, The Arts Council on behalf of The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media 2020. Commissions: Ports, Past and Present: University College Cork, Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council 2020-2023. Solo Exhibitions: Flutter and Flutter, Linenhall Arts Centre, Mayo (July 2023); Carriage Return, DLR Lexicon Gallery 2018; Revisions, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane 2016. Group Exhibitions: A Line Around An Idea, The Glucksman, Cork 2022; Creative Connections, Ports, Past and Present: Wexford County Hall; Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth; EPIC Museum, Dublin; Holyhead, Ucheldre 2022-23; Home: Being and Belonging in Contemporary Ireland, The Glucksman 2021; EVA International 2018. Book Fairs: DISTRO, Cavan Art Festival 2023: Dublin Art Book Fair, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios 2021, 2020, 2019.