Like a flicker of sunlight or the trembling of a shadow, identity moves. To fully know oneself, takes work. It’s a precarious practice…

Sophie Gough’s work is concerned with exploring notions of shifting identities. We are stratified beings, characters through time. Through extensive material research, she examines the character of a material memory embedded within the objects she collects from sites that hold a particular resonance for her.

Working mostly with native or locally sourced objects and materials, she collaborates with the agency of her surrounding environment. Within these spaces, she uncovers vital qualities through taking care of these objects, exposing their materiality and breathing new life into their memories.

Her encounters through making art, centre around the belief in a knowledge of place forms the basis of self knowledge and without that, we finder it harder to grasp our own position in the world around us.

News:

Sophie has just returned from a two month residency in Kyoto city, Japan during which time she was commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs to  create a large scale painting for Ireland House, the new Irish embassay in Tokyo. 

While there she also researched and developed a new body of work in response to her experience of living and working in Japan. This new body of work was exhibited in a solo exhibition Bordering Stillness at the Dohjidai Gallery, Kyoto. 

Her sculpture, Endurance, Perseverance, Longevity, 2024 was recently selected for the Royal Hibernain Accadamy annual show in Dublin which runs in Dublin at the R.H.A until August 3rd. 


Biography:

Sophie Gough is an Irish artist based on the rural coast of West Cork. She holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Research from the Royal College of Art, London (2022), and a First-Class Honours BA in Sculpture from Limerick School of Art and Design (2016). Her practice spans drawing, sculpture, painting, and sound, and is rooted in material research and spatial sensitivity.

Gough’s most recent solo exhibition, Bordering Stillness opened in May at the Dohjidai Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. Before then she has shown widely commencing with her debut solo show Concretus: Ulterior Objects, held at Tactic / Sample-Studios Gallery, Cork in 2017. Since then, she has exhibited nationally at venues such as Rua Red, the Royal Hibernian Academy, The Complex, Hang Tough Gallery, The Art Riddler 2024 (Dublin), Gormleys Fine Art, Fráma Gallery (Naas), Sample-Studios at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion (Cork), and Solstice Arts Centre (Meath). Internationally, her work has been shown in Berlin, London, Utrecht, Reykjavik, Mexico City, and New York.

She has undertaken residencies with the Kagan Hotel (Kyoto),  El Sur (Mexico City), Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival (Cork), Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, and The National Sculpture Factory. From 2017 to 2019, she deepened her sculptural knowledge while working in Brooklyn with renowned artist Michael Joo. Her work features in numerous public and private collections including Ireland House, the new Irish Embassy in Tokyo ,Japan. In 2020, she was commissioned to produceBrí, a permanent public sculpture in Dublin. Earlier professional engagements include internships with Ireland’s Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2015) and EVA International (2016).

A recent residency in Mexico (2024) reawakened aspects of Gough’s practice that had become dormant during earlier periods abroad. This pivotal experience led to a renewed exploration of identity, memory, and belonging—catalysing a shift toward more embodied, landscape-rooted work. With ongoing research into the cultural and material histories of vegetation and architecture, she has recently returned from a significant period of research and development of new work and a solo exhibition in Kyoto, Japan. This international residency culminated in the development of new body of work exhibited in a solo show at the Dohjidai Gallery, Kyoto which she hopes to show in Ireland over the coming year.