If the event is inevitably lost, a new artwork is launched from it, and as themes and subjects occur and re-occur, their re-generation might usefully be imagined as located within an extended family of images.

She attended non-denominational Bloomfield Collegiate School and Victoria College, Belfast during The Troubles where her experiences motivated her to develop the themes of conflict, censorship and psychological constraint in her work.

She was a pioneer of early feminist video and multi-media installation work alongside her fellow artist and friend Helen Chadwick, who selected her for the Hayward Annual in 1979.

[14] In 1998 Shemilt was invited to lead a project to improve the environment of the military base on the Falkland Isles by the then commander, Brigadier David Nicholls.

"[15] In 2011 she produced a series of Screenprints and laser cut embossed prints and a suite of these were acquired by the National Museum of Northern Ireland for their permanent collection in 2020.

The programme was presented and written by Emma Dabiri, who wrote: “The final work I want to show you is also by a woman – though this one, interestingly, does the reverse, imploring us NOT to travel.

On three facades of the CTIR building, 16 columns of large metal cladding panels incorporate her artistic abstractions which represent the four key scales of life: Molecular, Organellar, Cellular and Tissue.

The main objective of the work is that the series of images reflect in a meaningful way the scientific research being undertaken within the CTIR building.

For example, the exhibition, SHE DEVIL 8, in Rome in 2016 was described: In 2019 she and artist Federica Marangoni collaborated on Parallel Dialogues Through Video and Time at Casa di Carlo Goldoni, Venice.

The exhibition, curated by Laura Leuzzi and Iliyana Nedkova with Adam Lockhart, was planned to tour to Scotland in 2020, but cancelled due to Covid.

[28] In 2018. several of her works from the 1970s were acquired by the SAMMLUNG VERBUND art collection in Vienna,[29] and her work is in a touring exhibition, The Feminist avantgarde of the 1970s (+ various titles), showing in Stavanger (Norway 2018), Brno (Czech Republic 2019), Barcelona (Spain 2020), Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (Austria), New York City (2020 – postponed due to COVID), and in the Feminist Avant-Garde, Exhibition within Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles Photographic Festival, Arles (France) July 4–25 September 2022.