About Aisling O' Rourke

As an visual artist from county Offaly, I am never more grounded than when I can look to the sky and feel the underworld beneath my feet out on the bog. For me Lough Boora Parklands, is where I feel a real and tangible sense of home.  

I have recently embarked on a new documentary photography project following the success of my book A Bower For Sisters. This time I’m looking at Lough Boora Parklands and its recent rise to become a tourist hotspot, you might say it’s Offaly’s hidden gem.

I intend to document the faces of Lough Boora, from the men who dedicated their lives to working the bog, to the tourism staff who now work at the site. Over the past decade Lough Boora has become a place of artistic retreat and reflection culminating in becoming a world renowned sculpture park.

I believe the story of this community and their attempts to preserve this vitally important environment and our sense of home alive, warrants documentation and recognition. 

Artistic Achievements:

2017 Light Grey Art Lab, Art Camp Japan.

2015 Self published A Bower For Sisters photobook, an intimate portrait of Our Lady’s Bower Boarding School and Convent.

2015 A Bower For Sisters exhibited at the University of the Arts London

2015 A Bower For Sisters exhibited at the Library Project, Temple Bar.

2014 Selected by World Press Photo Ireland for Young Journalist Spotlight at World Press Photo 2014, Dublin.

2014 My T1 Life.

2010 In Her Own World.

2009 Like a Prairie Fire, the GAA at 125 years old.

Masterclass Participation

2016 Hijacking Reality at PhotoWerk Berlin with Boris Eldagsen.

2013 Roger Ballen, Belfast Photo Festival Masterclass.

2010 Documentary Photography with Kim Haughton, Gallery of Photography Dublin.

Contact Details

Phone: 086 6063057

Email: info@aislingorourke.com

WEBSITES: www.aislingorourke.com and www.abowerforsisters.com