Last Chance to visit the main exhibitions of PhotoIreland Festival at Dublin Castle!

Running until 5pm Sunday 23rd July
At The Printworks, Dublin Castle

Having already received an incredible response by the hundreds of visitors it enjoyed, hailing it as 'the best photo exhibition seen in Ireland', 'powerful and moving', and 'sensational', the four shows presented as part of R/evolutions at the Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland in Dublin Castle, are coming to an end this weekend – it is your last chance to visit!

Dust, presenting new works by Atong Atem and curated by Catherine E. McKinley

Catherine E. McKinley curates new work by artist Atong Atem, commissioned by PhotoIreland Festival. Dust explores the relationship of Dinka women, who act as mediums and custodians to the earth, to the rupturing history of Christianity and colonialism. It is the first time Atong's work is presented in Ireland, and the show is complemented by an outdoors installation at Dublin Castle.

I See the Face of Things to Come, curated by Renée Mussai

A work in progress curated site-specifically for PhotoIreland Festival 2023, the project represents an extract in exhibition form from the forthcoming book ‘Eyes that Commit’ (Prestel, 2024) which brings together nearly 100 women and non-binary artists from the African diaspora working in and with photography.
          Centred around a fluid interpretation of potent (self) portraitures—as repertoire, as chorus and soliloquy, as still-moving image, as vision, as breath, as vessel, as archive, as embodiment, as justice, as protest, as activism, as antidote and remedy, as affirmation and reclamation, as occupation, as community, and consciousness—the exhibition showcases the work of a diverse constituency of contemporary creative practitioners gathered in a loosely curated visual communion, whose evocative praxis amplifies notions of self and other through the prism of past, present and future tenses.

Introducing works never seen in Ireland by Aida Silvestri, Bernice Mulenga, Frida Orupabo, Heather Agyepong, Hélène Amouzou, Lola Flash, Mónica de Miranda, Phoebe Boswell, Sethembile Msezane, Silvia Rosi, and Zanele Muholi.

Double Exposures: Ethel-Ruth Tawe dwelves into Ben Krewinkel's Africa in the Photobook for PhotoIreland Festival

In Double Exposures, Cameroonian artist Ethel-Ruth Tawe responds to Africa in the Photobook, a platform and collection initiated by photographer and (photo)historian Ben Krewinkel. The platform is concerned with changing visual representation of Africa as expressed through the medium of the photobook.
        The artist and collector investigate the tensions which lie within the folds of pages, the afterlives of images, their captions, and contexts, paying particular attention to books from the 1880s to 1990s. From the early use of propaganda in a troubling colonial archive, to postcolonial technologies of self-expression and double consciousness, these works ask questions with care about the lens from which photobooks are read today, bending their chronological timeline to extrapolate and reframe. The exhibition unfolds as a prelude to a contributor essay in Krewinkel’s forthcoming book. around the collection.

Inspirational Arts and PhotoIreland shortlisted for Business to Arts Award

The Business to Arts Awards 2023 shortlist is out and we are very happy to share the news that Inspirational Arts and PhotoIreland have been shortlisted under the Best Long-Term Partnership supported by The Irish Times.
       Together we have brought to Ireland some of the most ambitious exhibitions, including those programmed in this year's festival, demonstrating what contemporary photography really looks like and exciting the local scene, whether through PhotoIreland, The Library Project, New Irish Works, HALFTONE, to list just a few of our projects.
       We work with Inspirational Arts since PhotoIreland Festival started in 2010, and a much deeper relationship was established in 2017, when they officially became our printing partners, bringing their excellence in the delivery of fine art printing.We are proud to align with the quality of their work, which has always been applauded by the artists and curators we engage with, to the extent that many long lasting relationships have been created during our collaborations, locally and internationally. We are lucky to have one of the best fine art printers in the world on our own doorstep.On a personal level, it’s a pleasure to work with Inspirational Arts; even under the most stressful deadlines, Jim, Ed, and Tim are able to work with kind words and attentive approach – professional and personal. We take the opportunity of this shortlist to share with you our appreciation for Inspirational Arts and to remind us all not to take for granted all the amazing professionals involved in the arts.

Read more about the awards in The Irish Times online →

Do you know what PhotoIreland does?

PhotoIreland grows the reputation of Irish artists globally through a 360 degree support system and platform for contemporary photography, activated through a diversity of projects. These include events such as PhotoIreland Festival and Halftone print fair amongst others; resources such as the PhotoIreland Collection, a specialised research library of photobooks, and Ireland’s Art Bookshop, The Library Project; via publishing with projects such as OVER Journal and TLP Editions; professional development support through networking and consultancy opportunities; and empowering early and mid-career photographers via our international partnerships, most relevantly through Creative Europe co-funded platforms such as FUTURES and Parallel.

Find out more about PhotoIreland at photoireland.org
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