Meet the artists from our graduates support programmes: Megan Brierley
Posted on 25 June 2025
For this series, Maariya Daud, who undertook a placement at Castlefield Gallery, interviewed the artists from our graduates support programmes. Today we are meeting Megan Brierley.
Megan Brierley is one of the 2023-24 University of Salford Castlefield Gallery Scholars. She is a multidisciplinary artist who uses ink, video, digital collage and projection mapping to explore the relationship between humans and their artificial other, the posthuman condition, and the commodification of women’s bodies.
Who have you been mentored by to date, what do you like about them?
I have been mentored by Aliyah Hussain, a multidisciplinary artist who works with sculpture, print and sound. Aliyah has been really lovely and helpful by reassuring me and providing me with useful resources as such as apps to record/create sounds with for my video work.
Who (or what) has been the biggest influence on your art to date – and its style?
In regards to my video work, I’d say David Lynch and Jan Švankmajer have always been inspiring to me as I like their surreal undertones and grotesque and uncanny nature. I have also recently been taking inspiration from the ephemeral films on the Internet Archive from the 60’s – 90’s.
What is your most successful work of yours to date? Was there a long process behind it, a thought process perhaps?
I’d say my most successful work so far has been my short film ‘Bon Appétit’ as it recently exhibited in Vertical Hold at Punch Gallery in Washington, USA. I’m really pleased that it has been exhibited internationally! It’s a video of me eating a variety of foods in kitchen setting, however, other peoples arms are made to look like my own and they are moving however they please.
Do you think you had a decisive moment where you realised what your art style was?
I felt like I had a decisive moment of what my art was when I was in uni, however, I have grown past that now. I was previously making work based around AI, the body and technology, however, I began to feel like they were pointless themes to explore as AI speaks for itself as it is constantly developing and becoming more human-like. I’m in a period of discovering my practice again, which is refreshing as I am no longer restricted by certain concepts. I’m currently focusing mostly on video work and occasionally doing pencil drawings.
How do you feel about your art now, compared to a year ago? How has the mentorship programme changed the way you view your art?
I feel like I’ve grown past that now, as I feel like there’s not much point in making work based around AI when I think it speaks for itself. I’m in a period of discovering my practice again, which is refreshing as I am no longer restricted to certain concepts. I’m currently focusing on video and pencil drawing.
I feel much happier with my art now than I did a year ago. To be honest, I wasn’t going through the best time during the scholarship as I was going through a lot of personal issues during that time, which made me internalise a lot of pressure and ultimately I became very unproductive and unhappy with my work. I feel like without the added pressure of the scholarship I can now create freely and I’m not restricted by certain concepts I was basing my work around. Being mentored by Aliyah Hussain also gave me a boost of confidence as I feel like she believed in my work and was very reassuring.
What would you say is/was your biggest artistic or personal challenge – has the mentorship programme helped you to confront and remedy this?
As I previously mentioned I faced a lot of challenges within my personal life during the scholarship which I felt hindered my progress, however, Aliyah reassured me not to put too much pressure on myself. Now that I have graduated and completed the scholarship, I can create work in my own time and at my own pace.
What are your plans after the programme? How has it shaped who you are, and where you want to take your art?
I have recently moved into my new studio at Rogue Studios, so once I get it sorted I plan on creating more. In the next couple of years I am thinking of going to the Glasgow School of Art to do an MA in Contemporary Fine Art, focusing on the moving image and photography pathway.
Links
Images
From top to bottom:
- Megan Brierley, Rabbit Stew (2024).
- Megan Brierley, Death of a Harpy (2025).
