Mary Duffy is renowned for her bold, expressive landscape paintings and her pioneering advocacy for disability representation in the arts. Born without arms in 1961, Duffy has consistently challenged societal perceptions of disability. Duffy currently works primarily with oil paint and cold wax medium on wood panels. She studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, initially working with video, performance, and photography—a deliberate choice to resist being narrowly defined by her physical difference. Eventually, Duffy returned to painting and has since exhibited widely across Ireland.  Her work is held in several public collections, including Ireland’s National Self-Portrait Collection, The Arts Council of Ireland, The National University of Ireland, Galway, and in the public collections of Wexford and Wicklow County Councils. Always describing herself as a disabled artist, she refuses to let disability define her identity. For almost 50 years now, her practice has sought to bridge art and activism, embodying both a commitment to aesthetic exploration and a challenge to cultural prejudice.

Image: 'Portrait as an Artist’ Mary Duffy, 1982