Join us at 3 pm Saturday, 21st March for the official book launch at The Library Project. A special afternoon to celebrate Ishmael Claxton’s two new publications, Dead Zoo in Blue and The Lioness, The Potion, The Wardrobe, with Paolo Viscardi, Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland.
Comprising 94 publications to date, with 3 more expected shortly, the TLP Editions series is a substantial collection of diverse photographic practices. From March to June, The Library Project will present an exhibition of all TLP Editions published to date, to coincide with this year’s call for proposals.
As part of this exhibition, The Library Project will be hosting a special launch of Dead Zoo in Blue, a TLP Edition by Ishmael Claxton, a New York-born photographer and visual artist based in Dublin for over a decade, with Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland, Paolo Viscardi.
Ishmael Claxton has immersed himself in the spaces and collections of the Dead Zoo, bringing his own unique perspective as an African American living in Ireland to the images he has captured. His use of a special blue-tinted filmstock references the Irish term for a black person, “duine gorma,” which literally translates to “blue skin”. This considered medium and careful lighting “paints” an atmosphere that normal photography is unable to evoke, providing a new visual perspective on the animals and spaces, creating something unique.
Through his explorations through collections both colonial and parochial, Ishmael has shone a light of a new sort, offering a glimpse of the intangible and magical – enriching the beholder’s sense of the Dead Zoo from the perspective of an artist of colour.
His practice spans photography, installation, and curatorial collaboration, shaped by backgrounds in art history, costume design, and creative installation. Working primarily with film, his images explore identity, belonging, and transformation, often blending staged moments with documentary sensitivity. Claxton’s work has been exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally, and he is a co-founder of ÍOVA Collective, a photographer-led group supporting image makers.
Alongside the launch, visitors can enjoy prints from the Dead Zoo in Blue, and also a selection of prints from his new riso publication “The Lioness, The Potion, and The Wardrobe.”
The Lioness, The Potion, and The Wardrobe is a riso-printed artist book produced in a limited edition of 50, each including a signed A3 print. Created during the COVID-19 lockdown, the work emerged from an intimate collaboration between Claxton and Cliona Buckley inside her home. Shot on film, the series explores identity, performance, and self-invention, revealing how imagination and friendship can open expansive inner worlds, even in moments of isolation.
