ARTIST BIO
Megan Luddy O’Leary is an award winning illustrator and artist from Ireland.
Her work has been featured by Gill books, Culturlann MacAdam O’Fiaich, Ethereal Magazine and Vittles Magazine.
She makes art about Irish cooking, craft history, and folk life
SELECTED WORKS
Ninety Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) by Manchán Magan, illustrated by Megan Luddy
2025
Illustration
Gill Books (2025)
Credits
Published by Gill Books (2025)
Meet the néaladóirí (cloud-watchers) and réadóirí (star-gazers) from our past who, without the luxury of Met Éireann at their disposal, observed birds, trees, animals, as well as markers on land and sea for signs of weather change. The sheer richness and variety of terms they amassed reveal the closeness with which they observed the world around them. Evoking countless sodden, shivery experiences on this Atlantic-swept Island of ours, this beautifully illustrated gift book uses Irish words to grasp an almost-lost world through the wisdom stored in the Irish language.
In the smoke of a little sugar
2024
Mixed media, lace crochet, earthenware ceramics, applique, quilt making, painting, embroidery.
Culturlann MacAdam O'Fiaich, solo exhibition 2024
“In the smoke of a little sugar”. “Leigheas an tSiúcra”
Megan Luddy O’Leary’s first solo exhibition at Cultúrlann, Belfast.
August 1st- September 12th 2024.
The exhibition explores Ireland’s rich but interrupted cooking culture.
Habit of Hands / The Kitchen Table
2022
Film/Installation
Vittles Magazine
Credits
Featured in Vittles Magazine 2023
Habits of Hands” is a series of animated interviews about domestic cooking.
“The Kitchen Table” is a mini installation in my own kitchen of work created for my final year project. The theme of my project was domestic cooking.
This film/installation was featured in Vittles Magazine as part of an essay I wrote about my final year NCAD project.
Based on interviews with women about cooking as second-nature.
These animations were created as part of the Final Year Project of my degree. It was born from my love for domestic cooking, a generally undervalued practice which is often written off as the mundane work of women. These animations accompany interviews with women, (my grandmother, my friends, and artist Jennie Moran) where they discuss their instinctive approach to cooking.