I am a multidisciplinary visual artist interested in how self-identity is shaped by cultural inheritance and societal expectations. My work is driven by a desire to place my experience as a first-generation American woman, mother, and artist into a broader social context. What is my role within a larger intergenerational legacy, and to what degree do societal norms represent or influence my life choices? My work challenges the injustices inherent in many societal expectations; it encourages the viewer to confront issues such as sexism and sexual division of labor. It exposes how social constructs of power, gender, and identity, often under the veil of tradition, can dictate how people live their lives.

Research-based and diaristic, my work features written documentation of the minutia of my daily life, visual representations of my living environment, personal belongings, and physical form. I regularly integrate daily maintenance activities into my practice, whether archiving vacuum bag debris or reinstalling laundry piles in alternative sites, I am repeatedly interrogating my domestic sphere. Screen printing with household dust or transferring barely decipherable journal entries onto transparent chiffon fabric, I draw attention to that which is not always visible, acknowledged, or valued.

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.