Press Release - NCAD WORKS 2025
NCAD WORKS 2025, the National College of Art and Design’s much-anticipated showcase of graduates’ work, starts tomorrow (Friday) at NCAD’s Dublin 8 campus.
Thursday, 5th June 2025
‘A creative lens into the complexities of our time’ — Ireland’s future creatives challenge us to think carefully about our current and future society at NCAD WORKS 2025.
The National College of Art & Design is ranked 53rd in the 2025 QS World Rankings by subject (Art & Design), 19th in Europe and 1st in Ireland.
NCAD WORKS 2025, the National College of Art and Design’s much-anticipated showcase of graduates’ work, starts tomorrow (Friday) at NCAD’s Dublin 8 campus. The week-long celebration of exhibitions and programming invites the public to explore the amazing and thought-provoking work of 307 of the country’s most dynamic emerging artists and designers.
Art, design and ideas from the next generation of Ireland’s creatives will be on display at NCAD from Friday 6th June to Saturday 14th June. Admission to NCAD WORKS is free and open to all. https://2025.ncad.works/events
The work of this generation of NCAD students not only provides critical insights into society today, but also reminds us that the possibility of transformation exists with fresh, solution-focused thinking. Their creativity reinforces the power of art and design to influence and inspire real change.
Announcing details of NCAD WORKS 2025, Professor Sarah Glennie, Director of NCAD, commented:
“We are extremely proud of this year’s graduating students who each in different ways demonstrate NCAD’s belief in the vital contribution that creative practice makes to our society as a force that creates space for care, reflection, innovation and new thinking—all of which are essential to a cohesive and dynamic society and economy.
NCAD’s graduates are the pipeline that drive Ireland’s creative and cultural sectors, and their work will have an impact across society in years to come.
Their own lived experience of our complex world is central to our graduates’ work. As part of their journey, NCAD students have the opportunity to develop their creative practice beyond the walls of campus through long-term engagements with community partners and collaborators in a range of settings. These collaborations expand their experience and understanding of key societal issues such as housing, cultural identity and social cohesion and climate crises, and are reflected in their final projects.”
Some of the diversity of works on display for NCAD WORKS 2025 include:
Sculpture and expanded practice graduate Helen Doherty’s work ‘MeanTime’, looks at how words and meanings change over time in response to social shifts or authoritarian regimes. Her 'Short Encyclopaedia of Contested Words' contains responses in different formats to words shunned by the Trump administration.
Sculpture and expanded practice graduate Nina Fitzgerald Graham is the winner of the NCAD 2025 Staff Prize with her work ‘Leave after finding nothing in a big, rambling empty space’, a durational installation which explores the young-adult experience in Dublin and reckons with expectations of adulthood and imaginaries of the future. This work speaks to a generation infantilised by economic forces— hibernating—suspended in their childhood worlds.
Print graduate Noor Farsakh’s ‘Shorn’ uses large-scale tapestry and silkscreen printing to explore the complex relationship between female hair and the enduring impact of gender-based violence. Her work focuses on the cultural and historical significance of forced hair shearing in Ireland, where hair, traditionally a symbol of beauty, is reimagined as a tool of humiliation and control.
Media graduate Lily May Keogh’s work ‘If these walls could talk, what stories they would tell’ promotes the concept of ethical remembrance. It is a video-based exploration of her family’s history with substandard housing, offering insight into the complexities of working-class life. This piece captures both the struggles and the resilience inherent in working-class existence.
Graphic Design graduate Bríain Hudson’s installation ‘Carceral Circuitry’ explores the prison system in Ireland, expanding its definition to reveal the true scale of state-supported institutions that facilitated the violent isolation of the country’s most vulnerable populations. His pieces attempt to break down the system, across a choice collection of vectors, in an attempt to understand the mistakes that shout through our past, echo in our present, and silently guide our future.
Product Design graduate Lia Foley Kelleher’s work ‘Meabhrach’ is born from vulnerability and lived experience. It seeks to support those seeking to access their healthcare records by providing a private, sensory-friendly reflection hut where individuals can prepare their mindset and review their records in a safe, supportive, and confidential space.
Graphic Design graduate Eva O’Connell’s work ‘The Land Question in an Era of Ecological Destruction’ examines who owns the land and what is being done with it in an age of growing ecological crisis. Using data visualisation, she examines how aspects of the Irish landscape have changed over time and explores how our relationship with the land and its ecology has changed through the history of a specific site.
Painting graduate Daniel Connolly’s project ‘The Anatomy of Those Strange and Peculiar’ explores the intricacies of queer identities, highlighting the humanity within his figures. His particular focus is on the relationships queer people have with their bodies. The paintings depict intimate spaces inviting the viewer to see the figures in a state of vulnerability.
An exhibition of seven graduating MFA Fine Art students will be at Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre, Tallaght from Saturday 7th June to Saturday 14th June. For more information see www.ruared.ie.
NCAD’s Centre for Continuing Education in Art & Design (CEAD) which offers part-time courses in art, design and photography for adults and school-leavers who want to explore their creative potential and learn new skills, will also be exhibiting from Friday 20th June to Thursday 26th June.