RHIZOMATIC: AN ECOFEMINIST PUNK-URBAN ACTION

2024, Photo credit Louis Haugh. Curtesy the LAB Gallery, Dublin.


Cecilia Bullo makes sculptures and multidisciplinary installations. Her work is grounded in research and collections of experiences from the visceral labyrinth of the mind, its dysfunctional beauty and horrors; to mythological, psychoanalytic, and ecofeminist theories. 

Classically trained, she engages in an expanded sculptural practice where materiality is both symbolic and sensorially charged. Her works integrate elements such as aloe vera extract, anxiety relief medication, and dust from sacred sites, layering physical substance with historical, ritualistic, and psychological resonance.

Adopting a Rhizomatic approach, Bullo describes her process as ‘chaos-magick making’ constructing non-linear, interwoven narratives seeking to foster restorative connections between ecological wounds and human scars.

  • CECILIA BULLO

    (IE/IT)

    Education

    2009 MFA in Sculpture, National College of Art and Design, NCAD, Dublin, Ireland

    2005 BFA, Academy of Brera, Milan, Italy

    2003 Fine Art Academy of Athens, Erasmus Mobility Award, Athens, Greece

    Upcoming

    2026 Invited two-person exhibition, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin (CAGA/Gallery Weekend), Nov. 2026, IE

    Solo Exhibitions (Selected)

    2023 Being Haunted by the Breezes, Now How Will You Exist?
    Curated by Patrick T. Murphy, Royal Hibernian Academy, RHA, Dublin, IE

    2023 Leigheas-Liminalis: Antidotes for Melancholic Gestures
    Curated by Sarah Searson, The Dock, IE

    2021 Bleach Those Tongues: Dystopian Assemblages
    Essay by Jennie Guy, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, IE

    Group Exhibitions (Selected)

    2025 Together in Commune, RUA RED, Dublin, IE

    2025 Connections: OPW State Art Collection Cross-Border Touring Exhibition, Farmleigh (Dublin);  Luan Gallery (Athlone); Down Arts Centre (Downpatrick); The Braid (Ballymena), IE/NI

    2024 In–DREAMS, Two-Person Show: Cecilia Bullo & Arno Kramer
    Esker Arts, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, IE

    2024 DISTINCT
    Disrupt Disability Arts Festival, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, IE

    2024 Endlessnessnessness
    Curated by Julia Mustacchi, The Lab, Dublin, IE

    2023 Periodical Review 12—Practical Magic
    Curated by Julia Mustacchi, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, IE

    2023 Infinite Possibilities
    Curated by Simon Fennessy Corcoran, Galway International Arts Festival, IE

    2023 Vox Magicae
    Curated by Suzanne Walsh, Kirkos Ensemble, Dublin, IE

    2022 Material Stories
    Curated by Helen Carey, Galerie Michaela Stock, Vienna, AU

    2022 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
    Curated by Stef Van Bellingen, Kunsten Platform WARP, Sint-Niklaas, BE

    2018 Hermione 2018
    Curated by Aisling Prior, Alexandra College, Dublin, IE

    2018 Artrooms Fair Roma
    Selected by Gianluca Marziani, International Contemporary Art Fair, Rome, IT

    2018 Ex-Voto the Body + Institution
    Curated by Maeve Mulrennan, Galway Arts Centre, IE

    2017 SITE WORKS '17
    Curated by Emma-Lucy O’Brien, Carlow, IE

    2017 Transgender, Gender & Psychoanalysis
    Curated by Mandy Wax & Spencer Rowel, Freud Museum/Draper Hall, London, UK

    2011 54th Venice Biennale Italian Institutes Of Culture in collaboration Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, Italian Pavilion, Venice, Italy and Italian Cultural Institute, Dublin, IE

    2010 NEU/NOW Visual Art Festival
    Curated by Anthony Dean & Paula Crabtree, L’Atelier, Nantes, FR

    2010 An Eire of the Senses
    World Expo, Irish Pavilion, Shanghai, P.R. China

    Awards (Selected)

    2025 CCI Paris Residency, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France

    2025 Visual Arts Bursary Award, (including 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020), Arts Council of Ireland

    2024  Mid-Career Studio Artist Award, RUA RED, South Dublin Arts Centre, IE

    2024 1st prize winner: Sculpture in any medium, Solomon Fine Art Award, RHA Annual Exhibition, IE

    2023 Arts and Disability Connect Award, Arts Council/Arts & Disability Ireland

    2022 Creative Ireland Award, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Ireland

    2022 ArtConnect’s ARTIST to WATCH ‘22, GmbH, Berlin, Germany

    2022 Grant Award, (including 2020, 2010), Culture Ireland

    2021 DCC Visual Art Award, Dublin City Council, Ireland

    2013 1st prize winner: Stone-Carving category, RDS Awards, RDS, Dublin, IE

    2010 Neu/Now Festival, ELIA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Public Commissions / Public Art (Selected)

    2025  Percent for Art Scheme (currently), St. Joseph’s College, Lucan, curated by Aisling Prior

    2025  Christy Brown Memorial Commission (longlist), Dublin, IE

    2024  Business to Arts Award Sculpture (2nd runner-up), IE

    Publications (Selected)

    Being Haunted by the Breezes, Now How Will You Exist?
    Artist book featuring an essay by Sinéad Gleeson, published by RHA, 2023

    Channel Cover Issue 10, Channel Magazine, Ireland, 2024

    Galway International Arts Festival Critique, Visual Artists Ireland, VAN Special Issue, Nov. 2022, Dr. Lucy Elvis

    Amongst the Daughter: Offset Spilling Forth, Visual Artists Ireland, VAN, Nov/Dec 2021 Issue, Jennie Guy

    Practical Magic: Periodical Review 12, Paper Visual Art (PVA), June 2023, Sarah Kelleher

    Artist Talks and Lectures (Selected)

    2024 Guest Lecturer, Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, Ireland

    2023 Commentator, WARP Artist Village, Make Eindhoven, Netherlands

    2023 Commentator, Art, Disability & Climate Change, Webinar by Alan James Burns

    2023 Artist Talk, in-conversation with Sinéad Gleeson, RHA Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

    2023 Artist Talk, Dublin Learning City Festival, in-conversation with Prof. Martin Worthington, RHA Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

    2021 Guest Lecturer, National College of Art & Design (NCAD), Dublin, Ireland

    2020 Artist Talk, Basic Talks Series, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

    Representation and Studio Contact

    Gallery: Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland (hillsborofineart.com)

    Studio: Studio 6, RUA RED, South Dublin Arts Centre (ruared.ie)