Rónán Ó Raghallaigh’s art explores storytelling and belief from a postcolonial perspective. His work responds to Irish mythology, folklore and ritual, interwoven with personal and shared histories. Of particular interest are trance and flow states of consciousness. Layers of myth and narrative imbued in the Irish landscape are integral to the work, with an emphasis on Rónán’s familial locality of the Wicklow-Kildare borderlands. The work seeks to distance itself from Celtic romanticism, and instead considers how folk practices can relate to modern and contemporary ways of being.

Rónán’s paintings depict in-between worlds through the visual language of abstraction and early Irish art forms. They draw from the unconscious and the Irish concept of the Otherworld. He also enacts performances at places of worship and historical significance.

Cultural memory, agnosticism, fluidity of identity and meaning, ecology, postcolonial liberation and the return of the repressed are recurring areas of inquiry. The Irish language plays a significant role in the practice. It is used in the titles of paintings, creative writing and performances.