About

Seanna Doonan is an illustrator and mural artist, based in Wakefield. Her work depicts the daily life of Northern communities – in particular ex-mining communities. She comes from a family of folk musicians, and grew up listening to and singing songs about mining, industrial strikes, and other historical and social struggles. Her artwork creates a vivid picture of working-class issues, whilst reflecting the highlights and hardships of everyday life.

Seanna builds each illustration from characters, stories, and songs, creating familiar and nostalgic scenes. She weaves narratives within each illustration, often drawing from memories and stories told to her over the years.

She begins each illustration with a pen sketch initially creating the characters and forming the landscape, building an intimate and domestic everyday scene. It is through these ordinary scenes that Seanna is able to address other issues.

Heavily influenced by her own roots and inspired by the lives of ordinary people, Seanna believes it is these values that give her work a unique identity and lend to it being described as both evocative and undeniably nostalgic.

Seanna Doonan studied illustration at the University of Huddersfield and holds a Masters in Authorial Illustration from the University of Falmouth.