Michelle Deignan
Filmmaker Artist

Michelle Deignan makes moving image, photographic and print works, for gallery exhibition, for cinema and for other screening contexts. These works critically examine the production and dissemination of culture now and historically, touching on subjects such as local and international identity, nationalism, feminism, class politics and aesthetics.

Many of her works have looked at the depiction and comprehension of public space and landscape. With moving image she creates factual and fictional narratives that present alternative experiences of land, place and identity. These stories include ‘A Glimpse of Common Territory’ where fictional 19th century characters are trapped in a 20th century modernist industrial tower within a 21st century house estate; and ‘Looking for Gary’ where she searches a street in London for a man called Gary to replace another man she can’t get access to. These films feature the triumphs and failures of protagonists struggling to be seen, remembered or heard as they fight for agency. In 2013 Michelle her first documentary feature,‘Breaking Ground: the Story of the London Irish Women’s Centre’, Her moving image work is distributed by LUX.

Michelle was awarded an Arts Council of Ireland Project Award for ‘Alternating Routes’ a major moving image solo exhibition at Tromso Kunstforening, Norway in 2024. The film ‘On Common Ground’ that features in this exhibition was produced by Leif Magne Tangen an award winning film producer, a curator specialising in artistsʼ moving image.

From 2020 until 2022 Michelle was the Chair of the board of Irish Film London, a non profit organisation that champions Irish Film, TV and Animation across the UK.

She is Lead Tutor for Documentary at MET Film School Short Courses London and Experimental Film Tutor for BA Filmmaking at MET. She also teaches regularly at NCAD Dublin, University of Sussex, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and Winchester School of Art. She is a former Tutor at Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art Oxford University and a former lecturer at University of Greenwich.

Michelle has also worked extensively as a film editor, originally working in Broadcast TV in the UK. She now specialises in editing both documentary films by independent filmmakers and artists’ films. She has worked with Apple Europe, Channel 4, ITV, BBC as well as Critical Arts Ensemble, Marcus Coates, William Hunt, Ursula Mayer, Axel Strachnoy, Jasmina Cibic, Nick Stewart, Mairead McClean, Lucy Reynolds, Sarah Baker, Rachel Mayeri, Chris Fite-Wassilak and Tom Flanagan, Anne Tallentire, Rosemary Toner.

Education

2022 – 2025
Doctoral Researcher, University for the Creative Arts
2005
Associate Research Studentship, Visual Arts, Goldsmiths, London, UK
1997
Post Graduate Diploma in Electronic Imaging, Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee, Scotland
1992
BFA Hons, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland
1989
Certificate in Art and Design Skills, College of Marketing and Design, Dublin, Ireland

Solo Screenings and Exhibitions

2024
Alternating Routes, Tromso Kunstforening, Norway
2019
Breaking Ground, Northampton Socialist Film Club, UK
2018
Breaking Ground, London Irish Centre, UK
2015
Breaking Ground, Still We Work, Cleeres Theatre, Kilkenny, Ireland
Breaking Ground, St Johns Theatre, Listowel, Ireland
2014
Breaking Ground, Chicago Irish Film Festival, USA
Breaking Ground, Rio Cinema, London, UK
Breaking Ground, Belfast Film Festival, UK
2013
Michelle Deignan, Trajector Art Fair, Hotel Bloom, Brussels, Belgium
Her Fanciful Digression, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Breaking Ground, Tricycle Cinema, London, UK
Breaking Ground, The Sugar Club, Dublin, Ireland
Breaking Ground, The Model Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
Breaking Ground, The New York Irish Centre, New York, USA
Breaking Ground, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, Ireland
Breaking Ground, Cork International Film Festival, Ireland
2012
Revolution, Artists Taking the Lead, Bus-Tops, Cultural Olympiad Public Art Project, London, UK
2011
Posing as a subject amongst subjects, Maria Stenfors, London, UK
Michelle Deignan – To Camera, Festivela, Gallery Vela, London, UK
2007
After the fact, The LAB, Dublin, Ireland
Il Cittadino, Five Years, London, UK
Il Cittadino, Milton Keynes Gallery, UK
Michelle Deignan, Scolt Head Screenings, London, UK
2001
15:1, Five Years, London, UK
1996
The Influencing Machine, The Art Hive, Cork, Ireland
The Influencing Machine, The Berkeley Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland
1993
Michelle Deignan, Third Degree, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, selected by Aileen McKeogh and Alistair Mclennan

Group Screenings and Exhibitions

2023
Breaking Ground, curated by Club des Femmes at Rio Cinema London for ‘we are a group of people composed of who we are’ events programme at Peer Gallery London.
Will we still want to dance tomorrow? Tales for a future, a Crown Letter project, French Institute in Prague.
2020
The Crown Letter, http://crownproject.art
Cutlog Screening Programme, http://cutlog.co.uk
2019
Ways to Speculate, Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK
Open SSA/VAS, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
The Brink and Shorts, Aros Cinema, Portree, Isle of Skye, UK, curated by Site Collective
Hunger, 5yrsly Video, London, UK
2018
Essex Road V, Tintype Gallery, London, UK
Architecture at the Edge, Palas Cinema, Galway, Ireland
2017
Vertical Thoughts (two person screening with Ernie Gehr) Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin curated by Cliona Harmey
Zero Recoil Damage, Folkstone Trienniale Fringe, UK
The Future is Another Country, AMINI Film Festival, MAC, Belfast, UK, curated by Rana Öztürk
Defensible Space, AMINI Film Festival, MAC, Belfast, UK
Les Rencontres Internationale Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Les Rencontres Internationale, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, France
2016
Artworks, Carlow Arts Festival, Ireland, selected by Annie Fletcher
Another Version of Events: Remote…Remote, Liverpool Bienniale, FACT, Liverpool, UK
Les Rencontres Internationale, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, France
Les Rencontres Internationale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2015
Tulca: Sea Change, Galway, Ireland, curated by Mary Cremin
Credits and Acknowledgements, Birkbeck School of Arts, London, UK, curated by Lucy Reynolds
Prelude Speaker, Contemporary Castletown House, Ireland, curated by Dawn Williams
CAN DO: Women’s Art Library Magazine Archive, Chelsea Space, London, UK, curated by Maria Walsh
Postcard Views, 1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore, India, curated by Carmen Billows
Infrastructural Objects, Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK curated by Maeve Connolly
The LUX and Cranford Collection Present: The World Turned Upside Down, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
Boom Bang II, Zagare Fringe Festival, Lithuania, curated by Catherine Hemelryk and Carmen Billows
Public Space Ltd., Athens Media Art Festival, Greece, curated by Thomas Munz
2014
Les Rencontres Internationales, Haus den Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Boom Bang, NN Contemporary, Northampton, UK
2013
Les Rencontres Internationales, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
This Fanciful Digression, Black Maria, Central St. Martins, London
This Fanciful Digression, CAN Neuchatel, Switzerland
2012
Chekov’s Gun, g39, Cardiff, Wales
Not in the corners, Maria Stenfors, London, UK, curated by Rosalie Doubal and Matt Carter
Spectral Metropole, Vzigalica Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, curated by Ken Pratt
Space Shift, Maria Stenfors, London, UK
2011
Spelling the Myth, Edinburgh Arts Festival, Scotland, curated by Agent Ria
2010
Event-Site: on The Place of Artists’ Cinema, Picture This, Bristol, UK, curated by Maeve Connolly
Based on a true story, Artsway, New Forest, UK curated by Peter Bonnell
Oneiriography, Green on Red, Dublin, Ireland, curated by Chris-Fite Wassilak
Moody, Trajector Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium
2009
transmediale.08 – video selection, Goethe Institute, Bulgaria
transmediale.08 – video selection, Montenegrin National Theatre, Podgorica, Montenegro
Terror and the Sublime, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Interrupted Correspondence, James Taylor Gallery, London, UK
Free Association, Area 53, Vienna, Austria
For your eyes only, Mains d’Oeuvres, Paris, curated by Florence Ostende
India Art Summit, Artquest Stand, Delhi, India
Noble Intent, Five Years, London, UK
2008
Film Screening Programme 1, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany, curator Marcel Schwierin
Fake ID, Vegas Gallery, London, UK curator Ken Pratt
Interference, Red Stables Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, curator Kelly O Connor
transmediale.08, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany, curated by Thomas Munz
transmediale.08 – video selection, Athens Video Art Festival, Greece
transmediale.08 – video selection, Amantes Art Space, Torino, Italy
transmediale.08 – video selection, Media Art Lab, Moscow, Russia
transmediale.08 – video selection, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, Mexico
transmediale.08 – video selection, Fundacion Ludwig de Cuba, Havana, Cuba
transmediale.08 – video selection, Media Depo, Lviv, Ukraine
transmediale.08 – video selection, Goethe Institut Madrid, Spain
transmediale.08 – video selection, Manifesto, Toulouse, France
transmediale.08 – video selection, Fotografest, Cuernavaca, Mexico
transmediale.08 – video selection, Sri Lanka Television Training Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka
transmediale.08 – video selection, Medienhaus Hannover, Hannover
transmediale.08 – video selection, Augsburger Kunstlabor, Augsburg, Austria
Rhymes of an Hour, Loop Art Fair, Barcelona, Spain, curated by Nazli Gurlek and Alexandra Navratil
2007
New Work UK: Trust Yourself, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK curated by Lina Dzuverovic
The Sleep of Reason, Crawford Gallery, Cork, Ireland, selectors Frances Morris & Enrique Juncosa
Zoo Art Fair, Colony Gallery, Royal Academy, London, UK
Artmapping I – Urban Art and Soundscapes, Fluc Praterstern, Vienna, Austria
Black Light, The Event, Colony Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2006
The Sound of your Eyes, Kunstlerhaus Passage, Vienna, Austria
Eject, Video Performance Festival, National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico City, Mexico
Europart – Contemporary Art from Europe, Vienna, Austria, curated by Walter Seidl and Ursula Maria Probst
TV Ergo Sum, Pulsar Video Festival, Caracas Contemporary Art Museum, Venezuela
Frenzy, Metropole Galleries, Folkestone, UK
Black: Implication Flooding, Colony Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Another Product, Corner House, Manchester, UK
MISSMAO, Blacklist Projects, London, UK
FlikOMSK, Corsica Studios, London, UK curators Sally Irvine, Steven Eastwood
Play – Special Edition, Okto Telekabel Kanal 8, Austria, curator Ursula Maria Probst
Videotheka, Culture Shock Festival, Krizevci, Croatia, curated by Kforumvienna
Captured, Horsecross, Perth, Scotland
Captured, National Review of Live Art, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland, curated by Pernille Spence and Lei Cox
First and Last and Always, Axis Arts Centre, Breaking Ground Project, Dublin, Ireland, curator Paul Mcree
2005
Lady Space, Fluc, Vienna, Austria, curated by Ursula Maria Probst
Unrealised Projects, G & A Studios, Sydney, Australia
Video Lounge, South London Gallery, London, UK
Last Supper, Hoxton Distillery, London, UK
2004
Drift, Edinburgh Film Festival, Stills Gallery, Scotland, curated by New Media Scotland
Drift, Videomedeja, The Museum of Voivodina, Serbia and Montenegro
Drift, British Council Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
Drift, An Tuireann, Skye, Scotland
Les Rencontres Internationale, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France
Hoxton Distillery Gallery, London Art Fair, London
2003
Les Rencontres Internationale, Immanence, Paris France
Les Rencontres Internationale, Podeweil, Berlin, Germany
Time and Again, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland, selected by Valerie Conner, Peter Cross and Brian Maguire
VM01, Hoxton Distillery, London, UK
2002
The Captain’s Road, TV Project, Dublin, Ireland, curators Maeve Connolly, Valerie Connor, Orla Ryan
Park 4DTV, Salto Channel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Pit Pony, Hoxton Distillery, London, UK
2001
Les Rencontres Internationale, Cerise, Paris, France
Les Rencontres Internationale, Aroma, Berlin, Germany
The Difference Between You and Us, Five Years, London, UK
Visual Art is Disposable, 147, Liberty Hall, Dublin, Ireland
2000
Stray Light, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, curated by Pallas Projects
Self-Service, Five Years, London, UK
1999
International Film and Video Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece
1998
Unicaja Eurovideo Festival, Malaga, Spain
1997
Edinburgh Film Festival, Scotland
1995
EV+A, Limerick City Gallery, Ireland, selected by Maria de Corral
1994
Siolru, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
Exposure, City Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland
1993
See Through Art, Hugh Lane Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin selected by Sculpture Society of Ireland
See Through Art, Arts Council Gallery, Belfast, UK
See Through Art, Model Gallery, Sligo, Ireland

Curating

2018
Curator in Residence at MEXINDEX the database of Irish moving image art curating ‘Subject to Weathering’ a screening at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, Ireland, with works by Seamus Harahan, Clare Langan, Caroline Doolin, Dónal Ó Céilleachair, Cliona Harmey, Michelle Doyle, Sarah Lincoln, Julie Murray
2013
‘This Fanciful Digression’ a screening co-curated with Carmen Billows at Black Maria, Central St Martins, London, UK and CAN Neuchatel, Switzerland with works by Mel Brimfield, collectif_fact, Nooshin Farhid, Patrick Goddard, Hannah Jones, Rabih Mroué, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Michael Robinson, Matthew Stock, Stefan Sulzer
2012
‘For Our Public’, curated screening of artists moving image work at The Museum of Modern Art, Ljubliana, Slovenia with works by Patrica Esquivias, Elizabeth Price, Redmond Entwhistle, Rachel Reupke, Jasmina Cibic
2011
‘Side Story’, screening at Maria Stenfors, London, UK, with works by Gerard Byrne, Annie Davey, Paul Rooney,
Alexandra Navratil, Michael Maziere
2010
‘Moody’, Trajector Art Fair, Brussels, Beligium, with works by William Hunt, Jasmina Cibic, Tom Molloy, Suzanne Mooney, Cormac Browne, Martin Fletcher/Systems House, Cliona Harmey
2009
‘Noble Intent’, Five Years, London, UK with works by Paul Rooney, Rachel Reupke, Ming Wong, Naoko Takahashi, Uriel Orlow, Anita Di Bianco, David Ferrando Giraut, Miriam Thyes, Paul Rooney, Cormac Browne
‘Does God Live in the No Fly Zone’, S. E. Barnet and The Kit Collaboration at Five Years, London, UK
2007
‘Present State’, Jasmina Cibic and Pete Moss at Five Years, London, UK
2002 – ‘05
‘Variablemedia’, online artists residencies and projects co-curated with Simon Goodwin
http://variablemedia.org with artists John Paul Bichard, Slateford, Dennis McNulty, Richard Couzins, Sally Morfill & Edward Dorrian, Cliona Harmey, Brooke A, Knight

Public Lectures and Discussions

2018
Post Screening Q+A at London Feminist Film Festival screening of Maeve (Pat Murphy and John Davies 1982), with Club des Femmes and Independent Cinema Office, Rio Cinema, London.
2015
Multiverse Redux, with Andy Holden and Catherine Hemlryk, NN Contemporary, Northampton.
2014
Artists Moving Image: Access, Archives and Distribution, with Ben Cook(LUX), Stephen Sutcliffe, Aoife
Desmond, Sunniva O Flynn and Maeve Connolly at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin.
2012
Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of a Genius, with Lynda Morris & Stephanie Cottela Tanner, Barbican Art Centre.
National Iconographies with Jasmina Cibic, Dr. Nika Grabar, Tevž Logar, Suzana Milevska, Alexei Monroe,
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez and Professor Jane Rendell, Maribor Art Gallery, Slovenia.
2011
Past, Partial, Present, with Emily Mark Fitzgerald, Gavin Wade, Uriel Orlow at Maria Stenfors, London.
2010
Six Artists discuss ‘Terror and the Sublime’, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork.
2009
The Empty Gallery Interviews, with Claire Nichols, Altair Roelants and S.E. Barnet, Five Years, London.
2007
View Tube with Malcom Le Grice, Simon Pope, John Summers and John Tiney, Campbell Works, London
Media Methods and Creation of Meaning, panel discussion with Valerie Connor, Tim Stott and Doireann Wallace, the LAB, Dublin City Council, Dublin, Ireland.
2006
Head2Head with Richard Wentworth, SAM Agency, Brighton, UK.

Awards, Fellowships and Residencies

2019
Artist Residency, Kråkeslottet Senja, Norway funded by Tromo Kunstforening, Norway
2018
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland
Film Pitching Competition Finalist, Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland
Artist in Residence, St Mary’s Primary School facilitated by Tintype Gallery, Islington, London, UK
2017
Feature Expanded, feature film development programme, HOME Manchester and Lo Schermo dell’arte, Florence
2015
On and For Production, supported by Electra Productions with LUX and Auguste Orts at BFI London Film Festival, funded by Creative Europe Programme of European Union
2014
Experimenta Production Pitch, LUX with Art:Film at BFI London Film Festival supported by Arts Council England
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland
2013
Cultural Relations Commitee Award, Dept. of Arts Sport and Tourism, Ireland
2012
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland
2010
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland
2009
The Elephant Trust Award, London, UK
Commissions Award, The Arts Council of Ireland
2008
3 months in Berlin, funded by ACAVA, Artquest London and Arts Council England
John Fell Fund, Humanities Board, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
2007
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council of Ireland
2004
Professional Training and Development Award, The Arts Council of Ireland
2003
Cultural Relations Commitee Award, Dept. of Arts Sport and Tourism, Ireland
2002
Visual Arts Award, Artist’s Fund, London Arts Board, UK
2001
London Arts Board Bursary, UK
1996
Art Flight Award, Aer Lingus, Ireland
1995
Exhibition Award (Art Hive Gallery, Cork), The Arts Council of Ireland
1993
Visual Arts Materials Grant, The Arts Council of Ireland

Commissions

2018
Looking for Gary, short film commission for Essex Road V Tintype Gallery supported by Arts Council England
2013
Breaking Ground: the story of the London Irish Women’s Centre, 63 min film, funded by Mind Yourself and Big Lottery UK.
2012
Revolution, 124 part animation for Bus-tops artists take the lead, Cultural Olympiad Public Art Project, London.
2007
Europart – Contemporary Art from Europe, European City of Culture billboard commission, Vienna.

Selected Reviews and Articles

2014
Emily Franklin, Interview with Michelle Deignan on ‘Breaking Ground’, http://sha.de.net, 12/2/14.
Steven Galvin, Interview with Michelle Deignan on ‘Breaking Ground’, http://filmireland.net, 13/11/09.
Yvette Gresle, Review of Her Fanciful Digression at Crawford Art Gallery, Photomonitor, London 14/10/13.
2012
Asana Greenstreet, Review of ‘Chekov’s Gun’, Wales Art Review, Issue 7.
2011
Barbera Knezevic, Review of ‘Posing as a subject amongst subjects’, Paper Visual Art, Dublin, 22 December.
2010
David Tripp, Review of ‘Based on a True Story’, Freize Magazine, London, October.
2008
Ken Pratt, ‘Red Cheek’, article on the work of Michelle Deignan, Wound Magazine Winter Issue, London.
Micheal O’ Connell, Review of ‘transmediale.08’, Artists’ Newsletter Interface.
Fergal Gaynor, Review of ‘Crawford Open’ – The Sleep of Reason, Circa, Dublin, No.123.
2007
Aidan Dunne, review of ‘After the fact’, The Irish Times, 11/4.
Aidan Dunne, review of ‘Crawford Open’, The Irish Times, 8/12.
2006
Chris Byrne, ‘Captured: Situations Observed’, http://www.art-research-communication.net.
2004
Mark Ewart, review ‘Crawford Open – Time and Again’, Circa, Dublin, No. 107.
2002
Lee Casey, review of ‘The Captain’s Road’, Dublin Event Guide, 3/4.
1996
Isabel Healy, Review of Influencing Machine, The Irish Examiner, 7 May.
1994
Luke Clancy, Review of NMH’s Arts Programme, The Sunday Tribune, Dublin 19 March.
1994
Gavin Weston, Review of See Through Art, The Sunday Times, London, 8 May.
1993
Eamonn Crudden, Review of See Through Art, Circa, Belfast, No 66.

Publications/Catalogues

2017
Zero Recoil Damage published by The Modern Language Experiment, Folkstone Trienniale Fringe, UK
2012
Cinematic Space, Televisual Time and Contemporary Art, Maeve Connolly, Critical Quarterly, Volume 54,
Issue 3, 31-45.
2010
Based on a true story, exhibition catalogue published by Artsway, New Forest, UK.
Unrealised Projects – Volume 2, published for Unrealised Potential, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK.
2009
Terror and the Sublime, exhibition catalogue, Crawford Art Gallery, Gandon Editions, Ireland.
2008
the LAB – 40 exhibitions ‘06 -’08, published by Dublin City Council, Ireland.
2007
As if something once mentioned now plain to see, Colony Gallery publication, Birmingham
Europart – Contemporary Art from Europe, catalogue, Cutural Industries Austria.
2006
Born to be a Star (Unbekannter Einband), Schlebrügge, edited by Peter Bogner, Austria
2004
Unrealised Projects Volume 2, www.unrealisedprojects.org
2003
Crawford Open 1–4, exhibition catalogue, Gandon Editions.
2002
Charley Magazine 01, Les presses du réel, edited by Marizio Cattelan, Ali Subotnick and Bettina Funcke
2000
The Glass Eye – Artists and Television, edited by Maeve Connolly and Orla Ryan, Project Press, Dublin.
1999
South Bank Banners, poster/catalogue, London.
1994
Siolru, catalogue, RHA Gallery and National Maternity Hospital, Dublin.
1993
See Through Art, catalogue published by Visual Artists Ireland.

Moving Image Distribution

LUX, London, UK