Elena Duff
About
Elena Duff is an interdisciplinary visual artist and musician working at the intersection of image, sound and story. Her practice includes painting, sculpture, video, and experimental sound composition. She is currently exploring the weaving together of a personal visual mythology and exploring the use of field recordings and music to creative immersive works that explore transformation and liminality.
Art Practice
My current practice moves between painting, soft sculpture, sound, and installation, creating imagined worlds where folklore, memory, and the unsettling overlap.
Figures and symbols that once lived in my paintings are escaping into three-dimensional form, becoming soft sculptures, free-floating banners, or wall hangings. Using fabric, thread, and stuffing – materials traditionally associated with women’s domestic labour – I transform them into charged, talismanic presences: eclipses with watching eyes, clusters of strange figures, animals and hybrid beings that feel both protective and otherworldly, speaking to different aspects of the feminine – at times revered, at other times feared.
Drawing on my background as a musician, I weave audio into these environments, layering field recordings, acoustic fragments, and electronic sound to deepen their immersive quality. This may take the form of soundscapes for sculptural installations, or as part of video and moving image works.
Through these multidisciplinary environments, I explore collective myth, the feminine, animal familiars, and ritual, evoking the hidden memory of the land and the stories buried beneath the surface.
I have exhibited in Ireland, Germany, and the UK as well as further afield, with works held in public and private collections internationally. My practice has been supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and Cavan Arts through multiple awards.
Music Practice
I am a multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter, with studies in field recording, audio engineering and music production. I released my self-produced, recorded debut album contemporary/alt folk album ‘In the Wilderness’ in October 2023. I’m currently focusing on using live looping to create full-bodied sonic performances.
My indie-folk music using acoustic instruments goes under the name Darkling Moon. Electronica and experimental electronic music goes under the name Vesperella. I’ve played with others at various festivals such as Electric Picnic and Longitude as well as performing as solo musical act at multiple other venues and events around Ireland.
Watch and Listen to Vesperella on YouTube
Watch and Listen to Darkling Moon on YouTube
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ELENA DUFF
Born London, UK 1972
EDUCATION:
Joint degree in Fine Art & the History of Art at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin (BA hons.) 1991 – 1995
2025 The Art of Field Recording (Online. Isobel Anderson PhD in Sonic Arts)
2024 Contemporary Art Framework to Develop your Ideas, (Venice, Italy)
2022 Event Production & Sound Engineering and Production (Sound Training College, Dublin)
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Solo Show, upcoming October/November, Bridewell Museum space, Courthouse, Bailieborough, Cavan.
Solo Show, Eden Gallery Cavan County Museum
2016 ‘No Time to Leave Important Words Unsaid.’ Bailieborough Library, Cavan.
2014 ‘Me and my Shadow’, Toradh Gallery, Ashbourne, Meath
2011 ‘My Fairytale Life’ Alice Gryphius Kunstraum, Berlin
2007 ‘Intricate Seductions’, Monstertuck Gallery, Dublin.
Group Exhibitions
2025
July, Bailieborough Creative Hub Exhibition, The Courthouse, Bailieborough, Cavan
June, Just Two Hands, Four Seasons, Monaghan
2024
Knockbride an Artist’s Response, Bailieborough Library
2023
Calling in the Winter, Johnson Library, Cavan Town.
2020
Artwork creation and exhibition for Poetry Town (by Poetry Ireland) Bailieborough
2019
A Cavan Convergeance. PEACE IV project, Townhall Cavan
2017
Ancient and Wild’ Johnson Library, Cavan
Windows Writers and Artists 26th Anniversay Edition Johnson library, Cavan.
2016
1916 Sackville Street, Remembering 262 Civilians Through Art.
2015 ‘
Gezeichnet fürs Leben’ Sammlung Schirm (Schirm Art Collection), Galerie Root, Berlin.
Response to Beauty, Mullagh, Cavan
2014
Chimera Gallery, Mullingar
Response to Beauty, Trinity House, Cavan Town.
Vanishing Art Sculpture exhibition Carton House, Maynooth
‘Connections 5’ – three-person exhibition, Courtyard Gallery, Bristol
‘Wet’ Hive Emerging, Waterford
2013
Intercultural Winter Arts Exhibition, Centre for Creative Practices, 15 Pembroke Street, Dublin 2
Windows Publications & National Student Poetry Awards, Cavan.
Two-person exhibition with James Brady, Backstage Gallery, Longford
2012
Rotebete Gallery, Berlin, artworks in various Berlin venues.
‘Freak Show’ group exhibition, Berlin
2009
Windows Publications, Authors & Artists No. 9 Cavan, Ireland.
Tease Art Fair, Cologne, Germany March:
‘Drawing Eire’ 411 Galleries Shanghai, China February:
‘Mix the Amalgamation’ Turn-Berlin, Germany January:
‘On the Bounce’ Turn-Berlin, Germany
2008
‘Kristall Clear’, Turn-Berlin, Berlin, Germany
‘Tape Modern number 3‘ Tape Club Heidestr. 14 Berlin
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland
‘Is Mise Ireland’, 411 Galleries, Shanghai, China
Central Bank, Dublin, Ireland Access to Arts Gallery
2007
The BIG Store, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
White Sight, Hazel Williams Gallery, Kilkenny
Down the Line, Crow Gallery Temple Bar, Dublin
BT2 Art, Dublin
St-Art exhibition Filmbase, Temple Bar, Dublin
Loft Gallery, Dublin
2006
Monstertruck Gallery, Dublin
‘Treat’ Talbot Gallery, Dublin
RDS Art Fair, Dublin
1993 – 2000
Ballinahinch Castle, Co. Galway
‘Absolut Pavement Art’, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
‘Absolut Secret’, group show, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
‘A Rainy Season’, group show, The Jo Rain Gallery (Kevin Kavanagh curator), Temple Bar, Dublin
Venice Biennale ‘Outpost’, group exhibition, Venice, Italy
N.C.A.D. Degree exhibition, group show, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin,
‘Open Access’, The Crypt, Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland
‘Arnotts National Portrait Award Exhibition’, Dublin Ireland.
16″ X 12″, The Pantheon Gallery, Dublin
‘Arnotts National Portrait Award Exhibition’, Dublin, Ireland.
AWARDS | GRANTS | RESIDENCIES
2025 Cavan Arts Professional Development Award
2024 Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award
2023 Townhall Cavan Studio Award (undertaken in 2024)
2020 Residency Award Arts Council of Ireland, Lakkos Project, Greece
2016 Residency Lakkos Project, Greece
2007 Arts Council Visual Artist Bursary Award
PUBLICATIONS
2025 ‘Menagerie’ poetry book by Nuala O’Connor, two paintings featured on the cover
Arts to Heart, 101 Art Book : Nature Edition
Semioculous XX Edition.
2012 and 2017
Windows Publications, ‘Authors & Artists Introduction Series′. 20 year anniversary edition and 25th edition. Edited by Heather Brett and Noel Monaghan.
2016
Villeroy & Boch feature in Trade Magazine | Pank Magazine 7 cover and interior
2011
Poetry Bus, Boyne Berries Autumn Edition
2009
Drawing Eire, 411 Galleries (Catalogue)
Windows Publications, ‘Authors & Artists No. 9, Introduction Series No. 9′. Edited by Heather Brett and Noel Monaghan.
2008
Is Mise Ireland, 411 Galleries (Catalogue)
Hekmag– Arts, Fashion & Design Magazine, Germany
MEDIA APPEARANCES
Various interviews with Charlie McGettigan, Shannonside Northern Sound 2020 – Present
November 2007: Newstalk 106-108, Culture Shock, interview with Fionn Davenport
April 2007: Nationwide, RTE Television, interview regarding emerging art in Ireland.