Chris Finnegan is a visual artist and arts educator from Cork City, working across photography, sculpture and participatory practices.
Recently moved back to Ireland after a decade in the UK, his practice centres on the home and suburbia; critically interrogating ideas of home-making, childhood and the domestic sublime. He regularly collaborates with his young sons and incorporates games and play-strategies in his image and exhibition making.
Through his participatory work with groups of young people across different settings and contexts, Chris has been developing a vocabulary of play-based making strategies. These projects inform his studio practice by emphasising the role of experimentation, conceptual flexibility, and hands-on haptic engagement.
Chris is currently supported by The Arts Council Children and Young People Bursary Award 2025.
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Photography (Distinction), Falmouth University, UK | 2022-2023
Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (2nd Class Honours), Technological University Dublin, Ireland | 2002-2006
Graduate Teaching Programme, Equalitas Teacher Training, UK | 2012-2013
RECENT AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
Arts Council Ireland Children and Young People Arts Bursary 2025
Arts Council Ireland Arts in Early Learning and Childcare Scheme 2025 - PlaySpaces Project with Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Child Friendly City.
Arts Council Ireland Arts Participation Project Award 2025 (with this/OUR Project)
Cork College of Further Education and Training Summer Residency, 2024.
Cowhouse Studios Artist Residency, Wexford, 2024.
Selected as Irish delegate for FUTURES 2024 (nominated by PhotoIreland)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 - PlaySpaces, St. Peter’s, Cork Midsummer Festival
2024 - The Grammar of Home, Galway City Library, Galway
2022 - House Rules, 6 Central Avenue, Cork, PhotoIreland Festival Open Programme
2015 - Someone Else's Somewhere, The Mills Centre, Highgate, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
The Grammar of Home (3-Person Exhibition with Colette Cronin and Síomha Callanan), Lord Mayor's Pavilion, Cork
On The Hedge, RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, UK.
A Bigger Book Fair, Peckham 24 (with Biscuit Books)
Dublin Art Book Fair, Temple Bar Gallery
2024
Samplelysium, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales
On the Irish Photobook, Photobook/NZ Festival, New Zealand
BOP Photobook Fair, Bristol, UK
alles is er al / everything is already there, Brink 64a, Deventer, Netherlands.
2023 - 2010
Displacement and Belonging - Home, Rua Red, Dublin
Preamble, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Center, Skibbereen
Dublin Artists Book Fair 2023, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
192nd RHA Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
In the Offings, Institute of Photography, Falmouth University, UK
Switch exhibitions (2009, 2018, 2021), Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
Your Public Art, GoMA, Glasgow, Scotland (2012)
Snap to Grid, L.A. Centre for Digital Art, Los Angeles, USA (2010)
PUBLICATIONS
Monuments to the Oneiric House, Biscuit Books - 2025
Stir The Pot, Overlapse Books - 2024
Futures Annual, Futures Foundation - 2024
Suburban Fantastic, Biscuit Books - 2023
House Rules, PhotoIreland TLP Editions - 2023
CURRENT POSITIONS & COLLABORATIONS
Associate Artist - Helium Arts, Cork (June 2023 - Present)
this/OUR Artists Collective
Lead Artist - PlaySpaces Project with Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Child Friendly City
Co-founder of Biscuit Books, an international photobook self-publishing community press.
PUBLIC TALKS & LECTURES
VAI Artists Cafe, Cork County Council HQ, Cork - 2024
Creating for Early Years Audiences, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork -2024
Guest Lecture, Falmouth University Institute of Photography - 2024