Lucy Mulholland (b. 1999) is an emerging artist based in Belfast with a particular interest in exploring possible post-anthropocentric futures. Working across sculpture and installation, her practice playfully investigates connections and exchanges between humans and other species. She focuses on actions or gestures which seem insignificant or even futile and instead presents them as catalysts for potential future action. Working with clay, wood, paper and metal, Lucy is interested in how these simple, raw materials are transformed by labour intensive handcrafting or specialist sculpture processes. Her work responds to the ecological crisis with speculative imagination– using humour as a tool to process catastrophe and create space for hope.
For Hidden Door’s 2025 Festival Mulholland presents Undercooked thoughts and dreams, a collection of ceramic sculptures that embody the fluid, fragmented nature of incomplete thoughts, fleeting memories, and speculative ideas of the future.
Translation—both material and conceptual—is central to the work. Using a combination of slip-casting and hand-building techniques, I explore the transformation of clay as it shifts from a soft, malleable, and vibrant state to something hardened, static, and seemingly ‘deadened’ through the firing process. This physical metamorphosis parallels broader themes of change and adaptation, reflecting the emotional and ecological shifts we navigate.
Playful yet reflective, this series aims to invite viewers to consider the ways in which time, memory, and transformation shape both personal and collective experience. The work seeks to capture moments of uncertainty, transition, and potential.
Find out more at instagram.com/lucygm_art
