Image credit: Marta McCullough for Art Link Winnowing Festival 

Bronagh Lawson

Bronagh Lawson is a socially and spiritually engaged artist, writer, curator. With a focus on art as a key transformation lever in the on going transformation of our traumatised society. Her recent performance art work at the Conflict Textiles Symposium at Ulster University and Performance Art Bergen in 2025 her piece ‘Honouring the women’ was based on a performance to be done at the death of a women’s co-coalition member. Lawson stood as candidate for the Peace forum for the NI Women’s Co-alition in 1998. The forum was a pre curser that eventually lead to the Good Friday Agreement. She has 13 year collaboration with Adjunct Professor of art therapy Suellen Semekoiski at the School of art Institute Chicago where together they have developed a form of contemporary art underpinned with art therapy that acts as a healing mechanism.

In 2016 is was invited to show her series of over 100 etchings ‘The ebb and flow of East Belfast‘ at the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin for the commemorations of the Easter Rising supported by the British Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland 1016

She wrote a weekly art column for the Andersonstown news 2020-2025 and has contributed to Fortnight Magazine and Art UK. In 2020 she published a book Belfast City of Light based on her experience of going to every church in Belfast for a service. A Fulbright scholar, she has won awards for her work with art and dementia with the Ulster Museum, A regional talk talk digital heroes award for her development and running voluntarily an online Platform for artists, galleries and audiences in Northern Ireland and during her 13 years of working on business/ community development within the enterprise sector on interfaces in Belfast she won awards for her finance training from the FSA. A gender equality award from European Equal programme and has helped hundreds of people into full or part time work, education or self employment. She has co founded Art is Collective a pop up studio weekly art group for adults with disabilities, learning difficulties and mental health issues.

She has 20 + years of board experience Current Chair of Bbeyond, previous chair of PsSquared focusing on succession planning, Belfast Print Workshop focusing on updating processes and increasing gallery sales and Women’s Tec focusing on ISO accreditation and amalgamation of funding streams. Trustee of NI Mental health Arts Festival since 2023.

She has 1st class degree in Textiles and Fashion from Winchester school of art and Foundation diploma in art and design from University of West of England. She attended Parsons school of art in New York as part of her Calvin Klein Harvey Nichols Fulbright scholarship.

Her work is held in a number of collections including the Office of public works, UTV, South Eastern Health Trust, City East, Irish Architectural Archive, Ulster Museum (Jewellery) and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

INSTAGRAM.COM/BRONAGHLAWSON