Elinor O’Donovan (b.1995) is an artist based in Cork, Ireland.
In her practice, she uses film, installation, digital collage, and sculpture to speculate playful answers to questions about knowledge, memory, and truth. Her work centres on exploring how stories shape our understanding of ourselves and the worlds we inhabit. Through her work, she interrogates the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, embracing the idea that everything we think we know is, to some degree, a constructed narrative.
O'Donovan draws heavily on pop cultural references and tropes as tools for meaning-making, using the shorthand of shared cultural symbols to create playful and humorous works. By remixing and recontextualising these elements, she invites viewers to question the worldviews they take for granted.
O’Donovan received her BA from Edinburgh College of Art in 2019. Since then, she has exhibited in solo and group shows in Ireland, the UK, Portugal, Italy, and Mexico. She has received numerous accolades in Ireland, including being shortlisted for the 2024 Golden Fleece Award, a commission from the National Sculpture Factory and Cork City Council in 2024, the 2024 Cork Midsummer Festival Jane Anne Rothwell award, the inaugural Cork International Film Festival Commission Award in 2021, and four Visual Art bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland between 2024 and 2021.
O’Donovan is the current secretary of Praxis: The Artists’ Union of Ireland.
In her practice, she uses film, installation, digital collage, and sculpture to speculate playful answers to questions about knowledge, memory, and truth. Her work centres on exploring how stories shape our understanding of ourselves and the worlds we inhabit. Through her work, she interrogates the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, embracing the idea that everything we think we know is, to some degree, a constructed narrative.
O'Donovan draws heavily on pop cultural references and tropes as tools for meaning-making, using the shorthand of shared cultural symbols to create playful and humorous works. By remixing and recontextualising these elements, she invites viewers to question the worldviews they take for granted.
O’Donovan received her BA from Edinburgh College of Art in 2019. Since then, she has exhibited in solo and group shows in Ireland, the UK, Portugal, Italy, and Mexico. She has received numerous accolades in Ireland, including being shortlisted for the 2024 Golden Fleece Award, a commission from the National Sculpture Factory and Cork City Council in 2024, the 2024 Cork Midsummer Festival Jane Anne Rothwell award, the inaugural Cork International Film Festival Commission Award in 2021, and four Visual Art bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland between 2024 and 2021.
O’Donovan is the current secretary of Praxis: The Artists’ Union of Ireland.