About

Through her paintings, Emma Berkery explores the intersection and dissolution of boundaries between self, place, and nature, capturing the tension

between the inner and outer landscapes of our shared human experience. A recurring theme in her work is the influence of environment on the psychology

and physicality of hope and despair, and their impact on collective society.

Berkery’s painting practice is process led, with a reflective, intuitive methodology, incorporating a symbolic palette with fluid organic forms. These organic

forms are collocated with conscious and subconscious structure and gesture to explore movement and spatial relationships within the painting plain. It is a

perpetual balancing of intuition, control, and chance. Her paintings are built up in complex yet subtle layers, with each layer eliciting a fresh response from

the artist, demanding her to adapt, interrupt, accept and transform to achieve the painting’s final expression.

Abstract artists such Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly continue to inform the artist’s working practice as her

painting is rooted in, and constantly references both the abstract expressionist and colour-field movements.

Based in Belfast, Emma completed her Masters in Fine Art - Painting in 2006 with Ulster University. Since then she has been immersed in the arts sector in

Northern Ireland working as a practicing artist, creative consultant, evaluator, and educator. Berkery is the recipient of several Arts Council of Northern

Ireland funding awards in addition to many other artist grant awards and artist residencies. Emma is a regular guest speaker on the MA in Arts Management

course at Queens University and currently holds a long-term associate artist residency with Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, an arts centre in West Belfast. She

exhibits regularly throughout Ireland with recent solo exhibitions It Might Be Hope, Who Can Tell? (2024) in So Fine Art Gallery, Dublin, Making Space to

Soar(2022) in The Nicholas Gallery, Belfast and Submerged in Echoes (2021) in Cultúrlann Mc Adam Ó Fiaich, Belfast.