We’re delighted to present the first solo exhibition at the gallery of works by Alison Pilkington.
The show takes its title from the Syliva Plath poem, Two Sisters of Persephone, where the poet offers two archetypes of femininity framed as sisters - one constrained by social expectations or internal repression, with the other embodying a freer, more instinctual self. The paintings in this exhibition draw on a similar binary, exploring dualities and tensions within the self and within women’s position in society more broadly.
Personal memories and the retelling of these memories also inform Pilkington’s work. These memories and the narratives woven from them are rooted in a distinct inner geography, a subconscious terrain of rugged, barren mountains, punctuated by occasional bodies of water. This setting remains cohesive across the work, suggesting a closeness to it - a landscape she revisits often.
Within this world are figures, and at times those figures seem to contain the landscape itself. These surreal characters re-appear throughout the paintings, subtly shifting in colour and form. They represent imagined ethnicities, sometimes encountering one another, each carrying their own intentions, beliefs, and dreams. They wander endlessly in search of something - perhaps the same thing.
Alison Pilkington was awarded a practice-led PhD in painting from the National College Art and Design, Dublin, in 2015. She was awarded the British Institution Award for painting at the Royal Academy Summer Show, London (2012), and was selected for the Marmite Painting Prize exhibition, London (2012 and 2016), the MePaintsMe International painting exhibition (2025), and was shortlisted for the Kurt Beers 100 Painters of Tomorrow publication (2013).
Recent exhibitions include: the Complex Dublin (2025); the Canopy Program, Chelsea, New York (2024); the Schonfeld Gallery Brussels (2022); the Model Sligo (2021); and the RHA Ashford Gallery (2018).
Her work is included in public and private collections, among them the OPW State Collection, the Arts Council, Wexford County Council and UCD collections. She lives and works in Dublin.