In 2007, Mahali O'Hare was the first recipient of the Rootstein Hopkins Award which commissioned a solo exhibition, Kindling Wood, at Spike Island, Bristol accompanied by her first publication.

Mahali O'Hare

O'Hare's paintings often emerge from photography and seem to bring random glimpses and shadows of something past to the surface. She was born in Exeter in 1968 and completed her BA at the University of the West of England in 1993 and has participated in group exhibitions both in the UK, Eire and Germany. O'Hare was shortlisted for the Artsway Open 2008 and shown in Birdland, An Artists Imaginary Aviary at Salisbury Art Centre 2009.