Born in Belfast in 1963. Elaine Mcginn is a visual artist who has emerged from the debris of social, political and cultural shifts in Northern Ireland. Graduated from university of ulster with a BA Hons Mcginn went on to study on the MSC Art therapy at Queens University in Belfast. Mcginn has worked in the arts education sector for over 14 years where she gained skills in exhibition curation, teaching and technical art practice. She has continued to expand and deepen her experience in performance art, attending many specialist workshops through Visual Arts Ireland, Bbeyond, Arts Council courses and local Arts Communities. A recipient of various Individual and group arts awards including Ards Arts, ADF -IDA and Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
My art practice is rooted in live art performance where I explore social engagement through performance and research. I address post and trans human concepts of identity, as fluid and transitional. I make work in a range of contexts and processes, responding to site and space with performative actions and aspects of installation. Much of my work exists to raise awareness and generate personal narratives around mental health and developing creative possibilities through performance methodologies. A space to deploy thinking, feeling and purposes, where I collate and incorporate associations relating to site, memory and body. This is part of an ongoing practice, with the intention to express the unexpressed, the hidden parts of the self and to contribute to the mental health debate.My current objectives are to formulate artistic strategies that create a container around shared relatable feelings, a space to exist, to celebrate, reflect and learn from one another.My future plans are to travel, exchange and perform at various international festivals, developing my practice and research in mental health recovery.