Belfast Photo Festival - Part 2

Detonating Rough Gound at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Sophie Ristelhuber
(Belfast Photo Festival)

Detonating Rough Gound at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Paul Seawright
(Belfast Photo Festival)

I had planned to leave Belfast on Saturday to drive home to Cork, stopping for the night in Dublin, as I was not sure the borrowed (and brilliant) Skoda Estate which had brought me and my work up would be able to make the journey home in one go. However I was persuaded to stay by a merry band of adventurers, led by Peggy Sue Amison (Curator of the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh). We headed off first to see Detonating Rough Ground, Paul Seawright & Sophie Ristelhueber’s show at Ormeau Baths Gallery, engaging with the memory of conflict. There I stood up close to the work, and swam in the expanses of grey & the beautiful gentle mid tones of Paul’s images.

Glory Trip 197 from Full Spectrum Dominance by Simon Norfolk (Michael Hoppen Gallery)

A restaurant next to the Kabul municipal bus garage by Simon Norfolk from 'Burke and Norfolk'
(NY Times Lens Blog)

Then we moved on to Simon Norfolk’s work. Simon gave two really interesting and insightful talks about two different bodies of work. He launched his book ‘Burke and Norfolk,’ which is also an exhibition recently seen at Tate Modern. The body of work is of photographs taken in Afghanistan recently presented alongside photographs taken in Afghanistan in the 19th century by Irish photographer, John Burke. I enjoyed hearing Simon talk about the story of John Burke and what was involved for him in making the photographs in the late 1800s. Simon is also showing Full Spectrum Dominance, a series of beautifully presented large format colour images of military rocket and missile launches in America. His artist’s talk was another entertaining and informative event, about the experience of making the work, and his facination around the events he witnessed. He has the rare and beautiful ability of sharing his enthusism for history, life and photography.

Simon Norfolk's talk at Belfast Photo Festival

The evening ended with dinner at The Galley, on board a perfectly positioned barge, with the hugely inclusive and generous Peggy and a number of new friends. (Incidentally the Galley is run by Belfast Exposed Event Managers Brown & Bri.) Among the group were the festival director Michael Weir, artists Elliot Ross, Emmanuelle Waeckerle, Simon Burch, Simon Norfolk, Belfast exposed director Pauline Hadaway & Paul Durcan editor of Source magazine. And I was thrilled to reconnect with Nora Hickey, the Director of the Mermaid Arts Centre who I had worked with previously at Glucksman Art Gallery. I want to thank them all for a wonderful evening!

The Belfast Photo Festival is one to watch. The 25 year old (yes really!) director Michael Weir and his team of enthusiastic volunteers have put together a wonderful programme of events and it feels like a well oiled machine rather than an event in its infancy. I wish them heartfelt congratulations and good wishes for continued success with this wonderful biennial photographic festival that I am so delighted to be a part of. I also want to thank the coordinator of the Queen Street Studios Gallery Brendan O'Neill for all his help and support in bringing my work to the festival.

The Belfast Photo Festival continues until 14th August at locations across the city and Document continues until 27th August at Queen Street Studios Gallery, Belfast.

Belfast Photo Festival 2011 - Part 1

Opening of Document at the Queen Street Studio Gallery at the Belfast Photo Festival

I had a wonderful time last weekend at the opening weekend of the Belfast Photography Festival. I found the whole event welcoming, interesting and inspiring. I met lots of great people, saw beautiful work and had lots of fun. It was a long, full weekend so I've decided to tell the story in two parts.

It began for me with the opening of my exhibition Document and my artist's talk at the Queen Street Studio Gallery on Thursday 4th. It was the opening night of the festival and a number of exhibitions opened across the city. I want to thank everyone who came despite the torrential rain, I really appreciated the welcoming audience. Brendan O'Neill, the co-ordinator of Queen Street Studios Gallery introduced my artist talk and after I spoke I answered some very interesting questions.

Document at the Queen Street Studios, Belfast Photo Festival

One question addressed the idea of the work as an object in the space - as my work is not presented as a traditional photograph with a window mount in a frame - and asked how this aligns itself more to the presentation of a painting or sculptural work. The answer is that I do see the space as an integral element in the reading of my work, and I was very happy with the gallery space for that reason. The Queen Street Gallery reminded me a bit of the Chelsea galleries in New York. You enter an unobtrusive door and climb the stairs which opens into a bright white wooden floored space. My work sits happily there. The metal prints sit opposite a wall of windows so the light emphasised the idea of the tones in the print being affected by where you position yourself as the viewer.

Animal (25), 2007 by Elliot Ross

Also opening the same night was Elliot Ross's exhibition Animal which happened to be in the same building. So I nipped downstairs to introduce myself and really enjoyed his work, his humour, and the chocolate biscuits on offer! His work is a look at what the animal looking out at you from the page might have been feeling and how we as animals project our human emotions into the encounter with this other animal. He also launched his book of the same name at the festival.

Attention Seekers by Miriam O'Connor

Miriam O'Connor in conversation with Matt Packer

Later that evening was a very busy launch party. I was thrilled to meet Paul Seawright, Donovan Wylie and a number of other lecturers from the that MFA at University of Ulster at my show and we all seemed to be doing the rounds of openings, artist talks and book launches throughout the weekend. Another of the openings I got to was Miriam O'Connor’s exhibition Attention Seekers at The Third Space Gallery. I really enjoyed seeing the work, which is a look at inbetween spaces and inbetween moments, beautiful playful responses to everyday scenes. On Friday I attended an event where the Miriam was ‘in conversation’ with Matt Packer, curator of the Glucksman Art Gallery.

...To Be Continued

Document - Queen St Studios, Belfast Photo Festival

Document at the Queen St. Studio Gallery, Belfast

The Belfast Photo Festival opens tonight and so does my exhibition Document at the Queen St. Studio Gallery. Its really great to be part of this new photography festival. There are lots of really great exhibitions as well as interesting talks, seminars & portfolio reviews. I'm looking forward to spending my weekend up there immersed in photography. The festival runs from the 4th - 14th August and the festival website has all the details of whats on.

Document opens tonight (4th August) at the Queen St. Studio Gallery. I will be giving an artists talk at 5pm and the exhibition preview begins at 6pm.
Document will run until 27th August and is open Tuesday - Thursdays 10am - 5pm & by appointment [0044 (0) 28 9024 3145]
The Queen St. Studio Gallery is on the 3rd Floor, 37-39 Queen St., Belfast.




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Current & Upcoming Projects

With all the excitement of winning the Alliance Francaise Award still whirling around me, I continue to be busy. I am currently working on a public art piece for Fort Camden in Crosshaven. I am looking at time passing, stillness and light within the fort, and the large scale abstract images will be shown on the outside of the building reflecting light back into Cork harbour. The piece will be shown from July when the fort will reopen to the public.

Work in progress at Camden Fort (Roseanne Lynch)

I am also preparing for a solo exhibition in Queen Street Studios in Belfast during Belfast Photo Festival, which is the 4th - 14th of August. I am really looking forward to this opportunity as it will be my first exhibition in the city. Its great to see all the new photo festivals, exhibitions and events that have begun to happen in Ireland over the last couple of years.

It will be a busy summer as I'm doing a 5x4 workshop in Paris in June, with Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee. I'm also going to New York for a few weeks in June & July both to soak up the culture and to make contacts with galleries and curators over there. If you have any recommendations for me either in terms of galleries/curators or things to see and do while I'm there, I'd love to hear them.

My 2 week residency in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris has been booked for November to coincide with Paris Photo, which I have a heard a lot about and am looking forward to experiencing it for myself. And I have also been invited to do a 2 week residency under the curation of Stephen McGlynn, at The Guest House in Shandon, early in September, when I plan to have a large format festival for myself!