Katie McCloskey’s practice centres on painting as a way to hold and extend moments of togetherness rooted in Drogheda’s social life. Drawing from everyday gatherings, pub conversations, gigs, and collective acts of making, her work captures gestures of care, intimacy, and connection as they unfold in real time. Using camcorder and iPhone footage as source material, McCloskey translates fleeting interactions into layered oil paintings that slow time, allowing figures to blur, overlap, and merge. Posters collected from local venues, alongside zines sourced from the Underground Zine Archive established by Rita Hynes, function as an archive and main source material to her work.
Influenced by punk and DIY culture, these paintings both document community, preserving its emotional texture while actively participating. As creative spaces become increasingly rare across Ireland, the work also takes on a heightened urgency. Ireland is a wealthy country with an abundance of creative talent, yet the venues that nurture and sustain that talent continue to disappear, with the loss of The Complex marking a particularly heavy blow for emerging artists. In a climate where AI and automation are beginning to replace creative labour, McCloskey’s practice becomes both a reflection of and an argument for protecting and sustaining the physical, communal spaces where art, culture, and collective life can continue to evolve.