Steven Irwin

Artist Statement

"I don't capture what I see. I build what I feel about what I've seen." This simple idea underpins Steven Irwin's practice.

Working at the intersection of photography, collage and mixed media, Irwin constructs layered urban landscapes that explore memory, identity and the fragile relationship between people and the cities they inhabit. His works are not documentary records but psychological reconstructions, where architecture, typography, literary references and human traces are assembled into visual narratives that reveal the hidden histories embedded within the modern metropolis.

Drawing on both analogue and digital processes, Irwin combines his own photographic material with negative layering, distressed surfaces, scratching, staining and digital montage to create richly textured compositions. Each work functions as a form of visual archaeology, examining how cities accumulate culture, mythology and collective memory while simultaneously reflecting the impermanence of contemporary civilisation.

Influenced by cinema, literature and the evolving language of the urban environment, his recent series explores iconic cities such as London, New York and Los Angeles as cultural landscapes rather than geographical lo...

BA Fine Art Cardiff College of Art.
Film Diploma London Film School.
MA Film Glamorgan University.

Recent Exhibitions and Media include:
2025, Urban Psyche Solo Show at Gallery X, UAE
2025, Urban Psyche at Xposure Exhibition, UAE
2022, Work Featured at Gubian Gallery, Portugal
2021, International Fine Arts Festival, Slovenia
2020, Street Art Guardian Media
2018, Portrait Wales, Little Man Gallery, Cardiff
2018, 3 New Works at Summer Show at Oriel Q Gallery
2018, Work in Urban Art Photographer at Rise Art
2017, Work featured in Art and Architecture Rise Art
2017, Land of Venus III, Saatchi Art Spring Catalogue
2017, Cosmopolis featured at Rise Art, London.
2016, Wild Fire featured in Evening Standard.
2016, Wild Flowers of London, featured in Guardian
2016, Shelter Cymru Art Auction.
2016 Eclipse, featured in Guardian Online
Penarth Pavilion Open Art Exhibition 2015
2015 Featured Artist at Rise Art
Neon Desert II featured in Florals & Plants Saatchi Art.
2015 Work featured in Guardian Online
2014 Featured in Pixelmania Guardian Online
2014 Oriel Q Gallery, Narberth, West Wales.
2013 MoMA Wales.
2012 Norwegian Church, Cardiff.
2012 The Gate, Cardiff.
2011 Oriel Ty Celf, Newport.
2010 City Museum, Swansea.
2009 The Gate, Cardiff
2008 Eistedfodd, Cardiff.
2007 Washington Gallery, Card...