As Above, So Below
Sara K. Dunn & Róisín Doherty
Engage Art Studios, ChurchFields, LOWER SALTHILL
Culture Night Printmaking Workshop Friday 18 September, 5-8pm
Official Launch: Saturday 19 September, 2pm
As Above, So Below brings together the work of visual artists Sara K. Dunn and Róisín Doherty in a delicate exploration of land, memory, belonging, and the intricate connections between what exists above and beneath the surface.
Working across meticulous pen drawing, painting, printmaking, clay and installation, the artists’ practices have intuitively converged around shared themes of interconnectivity. Their works consider the land as a living, layered space, one that holds memory, supports growth, and connects the visible world with the hidden networks beneath it.
The title As Above, So Below reflects the idea that nothing exists in isolation. Roots, soil, air, plants, fungi, people and memory are part of constantly shifting systems of connection. These relationships can be resilient and regenerative, but also fragile; they can become tangled, disrupted or unravelled.
The exhibition also considers how natural processes can outlive and move beyond human structures of ownership and control. The work reflects on the ways land can recover, reclaim and transform itself over time.
Through their precise and attentive mark-making, the artists invite us to look closely and consider our own relationship to the natural world, what the land holds, what it remembers, and the unseen connections that bind us to it.
Official Launch: Saturday 19 September, 2-5pm
OPENING HOURS
Sunday 20th, 12-5pm
CLOSED Monday and Tuesday 21st and 22nd
Open Wednesday 23rd to Sunday 27th, 12-5pm
Culture Night Printmaking Workshop Friday 18 September, 5-8pm
As part of Culture Night, Sara K. Dunn and Róisin Doherty will host an informal printmaking workshop at Engage Art Studio. Participants are welcome to drop in throughout the evening to create their own prints or cards using lino stamps created by the artists and take their work home with them. The provided lino stamps were carved in response to the exhibition with natural subjects such as birds, plants, flowers, fungi, bugs, spirals and more.
Artist bios:
Sara K Dunn is a Galway City-based multimedia artist and queer mycologist who utilizes a wide range of mediums to share an appreciation of nature and how we are a part of it. Sara aims to convey her findings in her art in an engaging way through modifying traditional practices, essentially queering her processes.
Sara was awarded one of the inaugural Graduate Studio Residencies in Galway City in October 2025; funded by Galway City Council. She recently completed her MFA in Art and Ecology (2025) at the Burren College of Art in Clare, Ireland. She earned her BFA in Illustration (2017) from the Rhode Island School of Design, and lived in Providence, RI, US before coming to Ireland in 2023. She has exhibited extensively in the US up and down the East Coast and in recent years, has been included in group shows in Stockholm, Galway, Clare, Cork and Limerick in Ireland.
Róisín Doherty is a visual artist based in Galway, originally from Cruit Island in Northwest Donegal. She recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Creative Practice from ATU Galway. She has widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. She is a recipient of the Youth Arts Explorer grant from the National Youth Council of Ireland in 2023. She was granted funding by the Heritage Council in March 2025 to undergo a collaborative project on tangible and intangible Island Heritage. Róisín has a multidisciplinary approach to her practice combining drawing, painting, sound and photography along with found objects in her installations. Beach combing, sound recording and walking are essential to her work. She is interested in the connection and disconnection between people and nature. Róisín creates intricate and detailed work reflecting the deep connection our ancestors once had with the environment. Róisín is highly involved in collaborative and socially engaged work, producing and working on community/youth projects and workshops.