Holly O’Brien is an Artist/Designer based in Dublin. She has designed costumes and masks for many theatre productions, Irish films and music videos. Between working in film and tv O'Brien runs her project Raven Escape, an art performance collective who have performed at music festivals around the country and evolved into a music venue at Townlands Carnival Festival two years in a row. O'Brien's other projects include collaborating with sound artists, contemporary dancers, performers and lighting technicians to create immersive performance installations which have been shown in Temple Bar Gallery and in Co. Galway for Culture Night.
O’Brien’s practice lies between the definitions of visual art and theatre. Using masks and costumes as her language, her work is an observation of the absurd rituals, rhythms and patterns within human behavior. O’Brien’s performance work has manifested from an interest in sub culture and identity combined with her studies within costume history and material culture. O’Brien creates her characters with an interwoven mixture of references borrowed from mythology, religion, folklore and modern subculture.
O’Brien received her Degree in Fine Art Sculpture in 2006 from DLIADT and then went on to receive her Honours Degree in Fine Art and Combined Media in 2007 from LIT. In 2013, she graduated from Costume Design for Stage and Screen from Inchicore College of Further Education.