(l-r) Amanda Coogan; Carl Hickey, Donna Rose
The AIB Portrait Prize 2026 Judging Panel
Brian Fay is an Irish artist living in Dublin. He uses drawing to present different models of temporality and history responding to pre-existing artefacts and artworks to examine our own complex relationship to time. He recently completed a major touring survey show which opened in the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, and travelled to Limerick City Gallery of Art and Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Ireland. He was the winner of the 2014 Derwent International Drawing Prize and the AXA Drawing Prize 2016. His work is in a number of public and private collections including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland, Crawford Art Gallery and the OPW.
Joseph McBrinn is a writer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has published widely on Irish art and design history and most recently on the intersecting global histories of gender and sexuality in modern and contemporary art. He is currently completing a biography of the pioneering Irish modernist Evie Hone.
Christina Kennedy is Senior Curator Head of Collections at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. She has extensive experience working with modern and contemporary art and has curated and delivered exhibitions and projects nationally and internationally, including: IMMA Collection: Art as Agency (2025-2028); Encounters: IMMA Collection at Dublin Castle for Ireland’s EU Presidency (July-December 2026); IMMA Collection: Freud Project (2016-2021); Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance (2020), which she co-curated with Catherine Lampert. She has been a member of the Grangegorman Development Agency Public Art Working Group since 2015, and is a judging panellist for the RDS Visual Arts Awards.
The AIB Young Portrait Prize 2026 Judging Panel
(l-r) Amanda Coogan; Carl Hickey, Donna Rose
Amanda Coogan is an internationally recognised and critically acclaimed artist working across the media of live art, performance, photography and video. Her works encompass a multitude of media, including objects, text, moving and still image, but all circulate around her live performances. She has performed and exhibited her work extensively, both nationally and internationally.
Carl Hickey graduated with a BA in Fine Art specialising in Painting from NCAD in 2022, where he received the The Dean Residency Award for his graduate show. Since graduation, he has had three solo shows and has been part of multiple group shows. He completed a residency with Cill Rialaig Arts in Co. Kerry in January 2026. Hickey’s work is an ode to the on-going rambles of life and he uses oil paint as his main tool to portray the city and suburbs and to convey his subjects in a different context. He also juxtaposes video and written work.
Donna Rose is a curator at the National Museum of Ireland, where her practice is guided by the principle of curatorial humility to build inclusive and collaborative relationships with communities. A PhD candidate at the National College of Art and Design and University College Dublin, she has previously held roles at the National Gallery of Ireland, including a fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Irish Art. Her work to date has involved supporting arts and cultural heritage organisations to share authority, value lived expertise and community voice, and work towards embedding equitable practices across their policies and wider practices.
