Shannon Cleere is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work challenges the injustices inherent in societal norms and expectations. Cleere’s work encourages the viewer to confront socio-political issues such as sexism and sexual division of labor, exposing how systems of power naturalize exploitation and inequality as ways of being. While drawing and printmaking are the formal mainstays of her practice, Cleere’s process is steadfastly research-based and diaristic. Her work features written statements and documentation of the minutia of her day-to-day life, visual representations of her living environment, personal belongings, and her physical form. She directly integrates materials and daily maintenance activities into her art practice, repeatedly interrogating her domestic sphere. This facet of her work is performative, physical, and intrinsic to her role as an artist and a mother. Intimate and personal, Cleere’s practice is inspired by her desire to place her experience as a woman and artist into a larger societal context.

Born to Irish parents, Shannon Cleere grew up in South America and Southeast Asia, moving to the US to attend The Evergreen State College in Washington State. She completed her BA in Florence, Italy, at Lorenzo de’Medici - The Italian International Institute, where she focused on fresco restoration, art history, and the Italian language. In 2020, Cleere completed two years in the Core Drawing Atelier at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. She earned her MFA in Visual Art from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2024 and is a recipient of the Center for Arts + Social Justice Fellowship Grant from the VCFA Center for Arts + Social Justice. Cleere lives and works in Seattle, Washington.