ABOUT

Born in Northern Ireland, Janet Graham is based in County Donegal.

Early in her career, she worked with Irish Surrealist painter, Lawson Burch. A significant influence on her development was the many years spent working with artist, academic and former President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Stephen McKenna PPRHA.

A creative tension has always existed within her practice. She is drawn to seemingly incongruous ideas, allowing contrasting visual languages to evolve until they coexist within a single body of work.

In the early years, the Office of Public Works presented her solo exhibition, ‘The Disappearing Landscape’ which was opened by Professor Anne Crookshank, one of Ireland’s foremost authorities on Irish painting. The exhibition became the subject of a BBC documentary, ‘Landscape Without White Bungalow’.

Her work was included in W.A.R. exhibition that opened in London before touring prominent galleries throughout the United Kingdom. 

In recent years, Graham’s practice has shifted towards an exploration of women’s lived experience. 

In 2025, the Embassy of Ireland in the Netherlands presented a solo exhibition of forty paintings exploring the institutional abuse of Irish women during the twentieth century. The exhibition was shown to members of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands. 

Visual Artists Ireland subsequently hosted a webinar on this exhibition, presented by the artist. 

Following her return to Ireland in 2025, The Mill Cove Gallery, Kenmare held a solo exhibition of her work entitled ‘The Architecture of Containment’.

Her current body of work marks a further evolution in her practice, moving beyond historical narrative to investigate the inner landscape of contemporary women. Through symbolic, semi-abstract figurative painting, she explores themes of resilience, identity, inclusion and psychological space.

Graham is currently preparing Warrior Women, a solo exhibition for The Workhouse, Portumna, Co Galway. 

This work will also feature at the annual conference of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, where her work will form part of a discussion on the painter’s approach to painting. 

Her paintings are held in the collections of The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Public Works, as well as in private collections throughout Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan.