About

Mary St Leger is an Irish visual artist whose work explores themes of gender, difference, and isolation. Her paintings draw deeply on experience and memory, drawn from an eccentric childhood on the periphery of a fishing village in rural Ireland. As part of a matriarchal, single-woman, Anglican family of blow-ins, she often felt caught between worlds—a foot in two camps but never belonging to either. This sense of otherness, along with the legacy of strong and independent women in her family, continues to profoundly influence and dominate her art practice, serving as a means of negotiating inherited and constructed identities.

Mary graduated with a B.A. in Fine Art from the Limerick School of Art and Design (1997), followed by a Master’s in Fine Art from the University of Central England (1998) and a Master’s in Women’s Studies from the University of Limerick (2002).

She has exhibited widely in Ireland, London, and The Hague, and her paintings are held in numerous private collections across Ireland, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

For over sixteen years, Mary has also worked as an art facilitator with the Education and Training Board (ETB) in the mental health sector. She strongly believes that as humans we need to allow our creative side to be encouraged and supported and given the space to flourish. Creativity can act as a conduit for greater self-esteem, communication and emotional freedom.