About the work

This work is part of an ongoing series called Old baggy root which I am developing as part of an upcoming solo show at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Works from this series has been shown recently at DREI gallery in Cologne.

“As in previous work, the artist summons a cast of recurring characters that expand and contract, shapeshift across ephemeral incarnations: the self is not solid, nor are its narratives. Rooney’s references engage with materiality and the human subject, but they are also deeply invested in the present moment: the pervasive dread fostered by political ideologies that casually discard the human, the humane; and the laden violence of our society, so resident in the home, in the female, in the body.”

– Text by Emily La Barge

Date and country of birth

1985, ZA

About the artist

Born 1985 Canada, Megan Rooney lives and works in London. Graduated from Honours Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto (2005-2009); and Masters of Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London (2009-2011).

Rooney is an enigmatic storyteller; her work expands across painting, performance, written and spoken word, sculpture and installation. Her references engage with materiality and the human subject and are deeply invested in the present moment; the festering chaos of politics with its myriad cruelties and the laden violence of our society, so resident in the home, in the female, in the body. Her work has previously been shown in solo museum exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Salzburg Kunstverein and as part of the Serpentine Galleries’ Park Nights programme in London. Rooney’s work has also been presented in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, The David Roberts Art Foundation, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; a performance at the Venice Biennale; and LUMA Foundation, Switzerland, among others.

Her works are held in public and private collections including Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; and Frac Ile de France, Paris.

Selected solo exhibitions include HUSH SKY MURMUR HOLE, MOCA Toronto (2020); Green, I Want You Green, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2020); TEETH AND LIGHTING, SALTS, Basel (2019); Fire on The Mountain, Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf (2019); Cuckoo till I come back, Drei, Cologne (2018); MOMMA! MOMMA!, Tramway, Glasgow (2017); Animals on the bed, Seventeen, London (2016); and Piggy Piggy, Croy Nielsen, Berlin (2016). Selected group exhibitions include 15th Lyon Biennial (2019); Paint, also known as Blood, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2019); Childhood. Another Banana Day for the Perfect Fish, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018); (X) A Fantasy, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2017); and Ministry of Internal Affairs. Intimacy as Text, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2017).