Gráinne Sweeney is an independent curator. Her work is influenced by her personal history and a career spanning over twenty-five years. Her childhood spent finding out about art in books underpins the storytelling that runs throughout the exhibitions and books she curates.
Collaboration is central to her approach. Her first editorial project – between a poet, an artist and a women’s literacy group – led her to managing the editorial team at a-n The Artists Information Company. A curating role with Creative Partnerships followed. Subsequently, as Head of Exhibitions, Education & Research at National Glass Centre/ University of Sunderland she introduced inclusive curating across gallery and academic faculty to create opportunities for artists and engage more audiences. After conceiving a consortium partnership of North-East arts organisations to realise an exhibition at 54th Venice Biennale she went on to establish her independent practice.
Gráinne has a special interest in utilising ephemera, public domain material and transient documents to construct visual narratives that connect art and artmaking to everyday life. She’s created new work and generated new thinking with artists and institutions including Rose English, Bill Drummond, Liliane Lijn, Alex Katz, mima, Getty Research Institute, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Tate and Laing Art Gallery.
