A Myth of the Last Wolf is an exhibition by internationally renowned artist Karen Daye-Hutchinson. Each print in the show is a gateway into an imagined mythology. Animals appear as messengers or witnesses, their forms dissolving into human gestures and vice versa.

The landscapes they inhabit are fractured and dreamlike, haunted by traces of conflict, tenderness, and the slow erosion of time.

Karen Daye-Hutchinson studied Fine Art at the Art College, Belfast, and Manchester School of Art.

In 2021 she was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (ARE) and a member of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (ARUA).

Exhibition continues from the 13th of June to the 4th of January 2026

An exhibition of rarely seen artworks by internationally important Japanese war photographer Akihiko Okamura, documenting his relationship with Ireland during the Troubles. 

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Japanese war photographer Akihiko Okamura (1929-1985) created a powerful and largely unseen collection of photographs in Ireland, both north and south. 

After covering the Vietnam War, Akihiko Okamura visited Ireland in 1968 drawn by the connection to John F. Kennedy’s family roots. A year later, he moved to Ireland with his own family and stayed until his sudden passing in 1985. During that time, he captured everyday life with his family and the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.

Okamura’s photographs have rarely been seen before, and show a unique artistic view of Ireland at this time. What makes his work stand out is that he chose to make Ireland his home. Among all the international photographers working at that time, Okamura stood out for his commitment to the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Since he became so closely connected to what he was photographing, Okamura created innovative images in both his own style and how the Troubles were shown through photography. His profound, personal relationship with Ireland allowed him to develop a new method of documenting conflict: poetic and ethereal moments of peace in a time of war.

Akihiko Okamura: The Memories of Others is now open in Art Gallery 4, Ulster Museum. No booking needed. 

The Memories of Others is a Photo Museum Ireland touring exhibition. Curated by Pauline Vermare, Seán O’Hagan, Masako Toda, Brendan Maher and Trish Lambe, with the support of the Estate of Akihiko Okamura, it premiered at Photo Museum Ireland in 2024. It opened in Belfast during Belfast Photo Festival.

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LAST ACT at The MAC, Belfast is a synchronized video installation by artist Marie Hanlon and composer Rhona Clarke. The work presents climate change as something both real and abstract, as such it mirrors the human response to a changing earth. Visual imagery draws on footage of real weather events, sequences are coordinated to make them different from daily media reportage. Opening and closing sections allude to industry and rise of emission levels following the industrial revolution. Rhona Clarke’s choral music takes its text from the latin poem Dies Irae, referencing the final judgement.

William McKeown made paintings, drawings, prints and installations that captured the openness and life-enhancing power of nature.
Guided by a belief in the primacy of feeling, his paintings often appeared at first to resemble objective minimalism or the monochrome. Yet they offered much more: nature as real and tangible, all around us, something to be touched and felt.
Each painting is slightly off square, undermining the perfection of geometry, and scaled roughly to the size of the human chest, as if mirroring the capacity of our lungs to breathe in air.

Sea Skin features a tactile soft sculpture inspired by the experience of sea swimming and encounters beneath the ocean’s surface.

Drawing from site visits to the islands of West Cork, the textures and colours of the piece reflect the diverse types of seaweed that embrace the coastal landscape.

The installation invites viewers to engage with the textile sculpture, as soft, airy fabrics gently brush against your skin, encouraging tactile exploration through hand-sewn strands.

Exhibition continues from 19/10/2025 to 04/01/2026

This landmark exhibition is one of the highlights of Northern Ireland’s cultural calendar, bringing together an inspiring mix of established names and emerging talent. Visitors can explore over 300 works of art across painting, sculpture, ceramics, print and textiles.

Alongside pieces by RUA Academicians, the exhibition also features artworks selected from open submissions, showcasing artists from across the world right here in the Ulster Museum.

On display in Art Gallery 6 until Sunday 4th January 2026. Free to visit, no booking needed.

Across Eurasia, Encountering Ulster – Lin Li Solo Exhibition – 4 Dec to 8 Jan 2026.

Exhibited works：
– Sláinte
– Tranquil Moment in Gleann na Srutha
– The Silence of Ghaibhóile
– Ten Minutes After Sunset, Béal Feirste
– Flowing Mountain Light, Aontroim
– Vortex of Bóthar na bhFál Dorcha
– Eternal Currents — Machaire Rabhartaigh Shore
– Golden Portaigh R-255
– Dathanna An Earagail (Colours of Errigal)
– Crimson Plateau of An Mhucais
– Somnolent Fever of a Dreaming Oileán Reachlainn
– Sleepwalking Dún Lúiche

This new body of work by Liudmila Kalinka explores clarity, calm, and joy through accepting thoughts, feelings, and sensations as a continuous flow of energy.

This exhibition, shaped by an intuitive process and based on personal experience, reflects an inner flow as a cycle of states that arise, dissolve, and renew. Each series grows from the previous one, as if one state naturally gives rise to the next and each piece is part of this unfolding process.

The work brings awareness into inner presence, showing how every moment, as it comes, becomes part of a path toward clarity and joy, revealing the beauty of simply being.

Exhibition continues from the 13th of June to the 4th of January 2026

An exhibition of rarely seen artworks by internationally important Japanese war photographer Akihiko Okamura, documenting his relationship with Ireland during the Troubles. 

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Japanese war photographer Akihiko Okamura (1929-1985) created a powerful and largely unseen collection of photographs in Ireland, both north and south. 

After covering the Vietnam War, Akihiko Okamura visited Ireland in 1968 drawn by the connection to John F. Kennedy’s family roots. A year later, he moved to Ireland with his own family and stayed until his sudden passing in 1985. During that time, he captured everyday life with his family and the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.

Okamura’s photographs have rarely been seen before, and show a unique artistic view of Ireland at this time. What makes his work stand out is that he chose to make Ireland his home. Among all the international photographers working at that time, Okamura stood out for his commitment to the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Since he became so closely connected to what he was photographing, Okamura created innovative images in both his own style and how the Troubles were shown through photography. His profound, personal relationship with Ireland allowed him to develop a new method of documenting conflict: poetic and ethereal moments of peace in a time of war.

Akihiko Okamura: The Memories of Others is now open in Art Gallery 4, Ulster Museum. No booking needed. 

The Memories of Others is a Photo Museum Ireland touring exhibition. Curated by Pauline Vermare, Seán O’Hagan, Masako Toda, Brendan Maher and Trish Lambe, with the support of the Estate of Akihiko Okamura, it premiered at Photo Museum Ireland in 2024. It opened in Belfast during Belfast Photo Festival.

, , ,

William McKeown made paintings, drawings, prints and installations that captured the openness and life-enhancing power of nature.
Guided by a belief in the primacy of feeling, his paintings often appeared at first to resemble objective minimalism or the monochrome. Yet they offered much more: nature as real and tangible, all around us, something to be touched and felt.
Each painting is slightly off square, undermining the perfection of geometry, and scaled roughly to the size of the human chest, as if mirroring the capacity of our lungs to breathe in air.

Sea Skin features a tactile soft sculpture inspired by the experience of sea swimming and encounters beneath the ocean’s surface.

Drawing from site visits to the islands of West Cork, the textures and colours of the piece reflect the diverse types of seaweed that embrace the coastal landscape.

The installation invites viewers to engage with the textile sculpture, as soft, airy fabrics gently brush against your skin, encouraging tactile exploration through hand-sewn strands.

LAST ACT at The MAC, Belfast is a synchronized video installation by artist Marie Hanlon and composer Rhona Clarke. The work presents climate change as something both real and abstract, as such it mirrors the human response to a changing earth. Visual imagery draws on footage of real weather events, sequences are coordinated to make them different from daily media reportage. Opening and closing sections allude to industry and rise of emission levels following the industrial revolution. Rhona Clarke’s choral music takes its text from the latin poem Dies Irae, referencing the final judgement.

In November 2025 Golden Thread Gallery will be presenting a new exhibition by artist Sharon Murphy, curated by Sarah McAvera.
Drawing from her background in theatre and shaped by influences from psychoanalysis and magic realism, Murphy’s work delves into theatrical settings, captured in moments of quiet and stillness. Through recurring symbols such as curtains, deserted stages, and performative environments, she investigates the thin line between illusion and reality, presence and absence.

The Border That Crossed Me is a multi-sensory collaborative exhibition exploring surveillance technology, border infrastructures, and climate-induced migration. This exhibition has been devised for the Golden Thread Gallery in collaboration with FLAX Artist Studios, Belfast and Azzedine Saleck. Presented in our Upper Gallery, The Border That Crossed Me examines the political and emotional geographies of divided territories across the globe.

Across Eurasia, Encountering Ulster – Lin Li Solo Exhibition – 4 Dec to 8 Jan 2026.

Exhibited works：
– Sláinte
– Tranquil Moment in Gleann na Srutha
– The Silence of Ghaibhóile
– Ten Minutes After Sunset, Béal Feirste
– Flowing Mountain Light, Aontroim
– Vortex of Bóthar na bhFál Dorcha
– Eternal Currents — Machaire Rabhartaigh Shore
– Golden Portaigh R-255
– Dathanna An Earagail (Colours of Errigal)
– Crimson Plateau of An Mhucais
– Somnolent Fever of a Dreaming Oileán Reachlainn
– Sleepwalking Dún Lúiche

This new body of work by Liudmila Kalinka explores clarity, calm, and joy through accepting thoughts, feelings, and sensations as a continuous flow of energy.

This exhibition, shaped by an intuitive process and based on personal experience, reflects an inner flow as a cycle of states that arise, dissolve, and renew. Each series grows from the previous one, as if one state naturally gives rise to the next and each piece is part of this unfolding process.

The work brings awareness into inner presence, showing how every moment, as it comes, becomes part of a path toward clarity and joy, revealing the beauty of simply being.

Exhibition continues from the 4th of December 2025 to the 29th of March 2026.

Each piece in the exhibition involves the artist intervening in some way on a found image. Although collage has long been part of Jeffers’ approach, both the disaster paintings and the intervention works differ from traditional collage: rather than cutting up found material for its colour or specific imagery, Jeffers uses the entirety of the original scene, adding a new element that completely alters the depicted narrative.

In this exhibition, Helen Merrigan Colfer explores a personal journey from childhood to adulthood in the ongoing search for belonging and self-acceptance.

Through emotionally resonant sculptures, Colfer reflects on the universal human desire to find one’s “Tribe.”

Audiences can expect totemic forms representing inner strength, transformation, and resilience. The works confront themes of conformity, identity, and personal power, moving through darkness and light.

As Colfer asks, “Is that journey complete or still underway?” the exhibition invites reflection, hope, and a sense of shared humanity.

Exhibition continues from 19/10/2025 to 04/01/2026

This landmark exhibition is one of the highlights of Northern Ireland’s cultural calendar, bringing together an inspiring mix of established names and emerging talent. Visitors can explore over 300 works of art across painting, sculpture, ceramics, print and textiles.

Alongside pieces by RUA Academicians, the exhibition also features artworks selected from open submissions, showcasing artists from across the world right here in the Ulster Museum.

On display in Art Gallery 6 until Sunday 4th January 2026. Free to visit, no booking needed.