As art critic for the Sunday Times for almost 20 years, Cristín has combined expert knowledge of the visual arts with an ability to write about them in a clear and engaging way - an almost unique blend in the Irish media. As a columnist Cristín is adept at analysing topical and controversial issues, using her superb writing skills to inform, explain but also entertain. An extract from her book Negative Space was one of the most read articles on the Sunday Times website in 2022.
John BurnsThe Sunday Times, Commissioning Editor
Cristín’s wonderfully crafted artists’ interview was a festival highlight at Light Moves Festival 2021. Her communication, research and delivery was authentic and engaging and conveyed genuine curiosity for the artist and their work. Cristín seamlessly engaged both the live audience and those experiencing the event via live-steaming. I would work with Cristín again in a heartbeat.
Mary WycherleyCo-founder and Curator Light Moves Festival, Choreographer and Film Director
She is uncommonly good at writing about being embodied... Negative Space is the record of a writer remaking life and language, knowing they will always be strangely matched.
Brian DillonThe Irish Times
There are few books that capture so gracefully and so truthfully the way in which art and life weave and bleed together. Negative Space is a beautiful, profound, unique book.
Sara BaumeArtist and Author
Leach is, with apologies to all others ploughing a similar furrow, the leading Irish fine art critic. She knows her onions,... No surprise then that this memoir is a work of art in and of itself.
Pat CartyHot Press
In this extraordinary book, Cristín Leach sketches a vivid sequence of vignettes that build towards a meditative portrait of art, voice, loss and growth.
Doireann Ní GhríofaPoet and Author
I adored Negative Space. It is a personal Ways of Seeing for twenty-first-century women... a compelling personal story steeped in art... essential reading.
Edel CoffeyAuthor and Journalist
An unflinching self-exploration of a woman at various major life stages, not to mention a refreshing portrait of a very modern Irish marriage breakdown, divorce and family break-up.
Tanya SweeneyIrish Independent
From Ten till Dusk... is a joy. Taking an experimental format, it draws out, and frequently fictionalises the threads that run through the lives of those involved, to create an eclectic portrait of a place, the times, and the people who make the art.
Gemma TiptonThe Irish Times
Lucid insights, formal courage and striking turns of phrase consistently demonstrate why Leach is one of the best art critics writing in Ireland today.
Emily Mark-FitzgeraldIrish Arts Review