Hugh O'Donnell was born in Dublin but lives and works in Belfast. After completing his M.F.A in Fine Art at the University of Ulster Belfast, he was invited onto the Bbeyond management committee (a performance organisation set up to preserve and promote performance art exchanges within Ireland/Northern Ireland and abroad). O'Donnell has received various awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has recently been a recipient of an award from the Arts and Disability Forum Ireland.

He has exhibited his work both nationally and Internationally in places such as: TRACE: installaction Arts Space (Cardiff), BONE Festival (Switzerland), IMAF Mas Gallery (Serbia), Le Lieu centre en art d'actuale (Quebec City), ETNA FOUNDATION: ARES (Romania).

He was recently commissioned to exhibit work at 'In the Flesh' performance festival Plymouth England. He is currently a studio member of ADHOC studio's Belfast and is currently working towards a Drawing and Performance solo exhibition at the ADF Gallery Belfast. Notions of gender/sexuality and the abstract/absurd fuel many of his performances and actions/drawings and sometimes video installations. Buckets/lipstick/High Heels/Chairs/Liver/Anal Cavities/found objects such as tin cans/toilets all seem to attract him and therefore in turn are appropriated into his artistic thinking and making.