Beth McAlester is a Northern Irish artist based in London, England, exploring themes of identity, commemoration, and place. Through her painting, she examines semi-biographical narratives grounded by post-Troubles contexts within the UK and Ireland.

 

She attained her BFA at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, 2022-2025 and completed her Foundation in Art and Design at the University of the Arts London CCW. She was an artist in residence at Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0 in 2024 and was awarded The Painters Stainers’ Company Scholarship In 2023. Her works have also been recognised at the Association for Medical Humanities Annual international conference where she was awarded the 2023 'Fevers, Frets, and Futures' Visual Arts Prize. McAlester’s works have been exhibited in numerous group shows including Elevenses at Ugly Duck Gallery, Threading the Eye at the Crypt Gallery, and Fluid Realities in collaboration with Art Ascend and Earl’s Court London.

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Through painting and drawing, McAlester examines biographical narratives relating to post-Troubles contexts within Northern Ireland. Rather than directly addressing an overarching political system, her work draws inspiration from scenes or moments that suggest lingering trauma—navigating a complex web of social and cultural realities to underscore the ongoing disenfranchisement and tribalism still present today.

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Rejecting objectivity, McAlester is compelled by a desire to chronicle transient cultures—observing over shoulders and through others' eyes to capture the texture of experience alongside her own. Muted palettes and photographic motifs anchor the work in reality, yet a tenderness emerges through the construction of the painted image. Gauzy figures and architectural symbols appear obscured, as the surface becomes a site for dialogue with collective biases. A recurring fascination with the blank slate of youth, particularly within these charged settings, is reflected in depictions of children caught in confrontational spaces. The light that falls upon them is not celestial or natural, but artificial: the flash of a camera, a floodlight, a battery-powered torch—hinting at identities and social frameworks shaped by external forces.

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The visual deterioration of the imagery mirrors that of the painted surface itself, brought about by the distressed materials McAlester employs. By working on found surfaces, each painting develops a distinctive skin that simultaneously destabilises and grounds the subjects. For instance, the use of wood references builder’s pallets traditionally burned during Loyalist parades in Belfast. These references are not merely symbolic but serve to recontextualise objects and images—anchoring them to place while prompting reflection on the viewer’s own position relative to those marginalized by the contemporary Western imagination.