INFORMATION
Flaming Fleeces environmental installation at White Rock, Millom, Cumbria
.
Irene Rogan’s work explores the relationship between materiality and the metaphysical, often engaging with contradiction. Through process, physicality and location she reflects on the human condition and the experience of place. Her works frequently carry a theatrical presence, drawing the viewer into moments of transformation within materials and environments. These shifts act as metaphors for the ‘divided self’ in lived experience and for the possibility of spiritual presence within the physical world.
Her multidisciplinary practice draws on scientific observation, including microscopy, ecology and environmental processes, alongside social and community engagement. Working across installation, sculpture, photography, sound, drawing, participatory events and performance, she develops projects through collaboration with scientists, artists and local communities.
Her research increasingly considers relationships across scale — from microscopic life to wider cosmic systems - exploring how observation, sound and light might reveal hidden structures within the natural world.
While much of her recent work is rooted in the rural coastal landscapes of South West Cumbria, she is currently participating in an interdisciplinary project with the Sonic Intangibles research programme at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, exploring new collaborations and experimental approaches to sound and research-led practice.
In recent years, her practice has expanded both nationally and internationally through residencies, travel research and exhibitions. Her current focus is on rural coastal areas of South West Cumbria.
ABOUT
Born in Millom, Cumbria (returned during 2016) having completed BA Hons, Nottingham Trent University in 1991 I remained in the City in order to establish a studio practice at Can Studio, Oldknows Factory, receiving grant awards from Arts Council England, Pollack Krasner Foundation (New York) and The British Council. These were followed by exhibition commissions, residencies and research bursaries to visit Portugal (2004), Spain Germany (2007) China (2008), Finland (2015), Florida (2015-16), Cuba (2017).
Since 2001 I have also been working on large and small projects in the public realm both in the capacity of a commissioned artist and creative consultant for permanent and temporary schemes. These opportunities have enabled collaboration with architects and landscape designers to successfully introduce a creative dynamic within urban regeneration initiatives, often drawing on scientific expertise in the fields of space, microbiology, ecology and acoustics. Concern for the environment and sustainability has introduced new narratives in my work in which layers of meaning are now projected through material, form and location - and in relation to the surrounding built environment.
My practice as a public artist can be viewed: