Luke Alen-Buckley: The Morrígan
The Morrígan, a monumental triptych in Irish blue limestone and steel by Luke Alen-Buckley.
Drawing on the ancient Celtic goddess known as the Phantom Queen—at once figure of sovereignty and fate, war and death, rebirth and hope—the work stages a dialogue between mythology, geology and contemporary sculpture.
Comprising glacial erratics over 340 million years old, each suspended within a hand-forged steel ring, The Morrígan evokes the language of ritual stelae while asserting a distinctly modern presence. Alen-Buckley’s elemental forms reveal a poetics of time, origin and transformation, where the one becomes many and the ancient resonates anew.
Originally commissioned for the Nevill Holt Festival in 2022, the project was realised with Colstoun Arts serving as project manager, guiding the work from quarry to installation and situating it within one of the UK’s most dynamic contemporary sculpture programmes.
the Morrígan
Biography & About the Artist:
Luke Alen-Buckley (b. 1987 UK) is a Irish/British artist whose multidisciplinary practice engages with themes of myth and the natural world. Working across sculpture, print, and installation, his work often explores liminal spaces between the material and the immaterial, drawing inspiration from landscape, ritual, and the interplay between human presence and the environment. Alen-Buckley has exhibited in the UK and internationally, with recent projects including The Morrígan (2022), a large-scale sculptural installation commissioned for the Nevill Holt Festival. His practice is characterised by an acute sensitivity to site and atmosphere, creating works that invite contemplation and immersive experience while interrogating the boundaries between art and nature.
Exhibitions
Selected Solo
2022 The Morrígan, Nevill Holt Festival, Leicestershire
2021 Talisman, Holland Park Opera Festival, London
2019 Memento Mori, London
Selected Group
2021 No.43, Ron Hitching’s Home, London
2020 Don’t Touch Me, London
