Born in Northern Ireland, Moorhead received her BA and MFA from Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2005 her work was included in an exhibition titled The Nature of Things, as Northern Ireland’s inaugural participation in the Venice Biennale. Other exhibitions include Sparkle, 2006, Gallery Side 2, Tokyo; A Thing Called Early Blur (solo), 2007, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston; The Luxury of Dirt, 2011, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland; and A bird that never lands(cape) (solo), 2013, Inman Gallery, Houston.

In addition to the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, she has participated in numerous residencies including the International-Artist-In-Residence Program at Artpace, San Antonio; the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire; and SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland. Moorhead has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2007 Texas Prize from Arthouse, Austin, an Artadia Award (2008), and a 2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painters and Sculptors.