Dervla O’Flaherty is a visual artist from Ireland. Her research into myth, place and the unknown continually informs series of multi-layered paintings through process-led practice. Dervla graduated from the National College of Art & Design (NCAD) in 2012 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting and completed postgraduate studies at Cyprus College of Art (CCA) in 2014.
Place and space are central themes of her practice. Dervla has undertaken projects in India, Iceland, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Armenia, and Alaska, often returning to themes of ancient structures and landscape, mythology and folktales within her work. She was lucky to receive several residencies at Cill Rialaig artist retreat over the years, connecting themes of the Kerry landscape into her work.
She received a Culture Moves Europe grant in 2025 to research the megalithic temples in Malta to inform new painting series. Recent projects include a solo exhibition ‘Otherworld Trouble’ at Dillon Gallery, Cultúrlann in Belfast (2025); solo exhibition ‘Ancient Conversations’ at Cill Rialaig Arts Centre (2025). a residency at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Yerevan (ICA) in 2024; participation in group shows at Ardgillan Gallery, Hamilton Gallery, and Ranelagh Arts Centre in 2024. She received the Ballinglen Arts Foundation Fellowship Award in 2025, and the Bridge Guard Artist Residency in Hungary/Slovakia in 2026. Upcoming projects include a Culture Moves Europe grant to explore ancient cave systems and structures in Cyprus to gather new textures and connections for her work.
Artist Statement
My practice is a process-led excavation of myth, place and the unknown, unfolding through layered, overlapping mixed-media works.
Experimental physical process allow me to explore mythical, historical, and imaginary places through texture and form. Techniques like glazing, cutting, carving, and overlapping materials are central to my work. I approach painting as a form of excavation: layering paint, scraping back, glazing and reworking surfaces until images emerge that feel uncovered rather than composed. These processes mirror the slow, accumulative ways in which place itself can reveal meaning over time, allowing texture, material and intuition to guide the work as much as conscious thought.
Akin to poetry, certain types of art allow access to the unconscious. These paintings develop from an ongoing search for access points and entrances in myth and memory as well as physical places, which includes building a visual lexicon of maps, mountains, doorways, windows, wells and rabbit holes. Drawn to thresholds, cracks, and entrances, these expressive works reimagine architectural and natural forms into wild poetic terrains that invite viewers contemplate the allure and peril of venturing beyond the known into ‘the Otherworld’, whatever that concept may mean to the individual.