Book now! Shasha Movies
at The Light House Cinema

Screening and Talk Fri 7 July 6-8pm
At The Light House Cinema, Smithfield

Shasha Movies is the independent streaming service for South-West Asian and North African cinema. For PhotoIreland Festival, Shasha Movies presents a selection of films from their distribution library, curated in response to the festival. Featuring the films of Eiman Mirghani, Jamil McGinnis, Malak Mroueh, Natalie Shirinian, Rafik Greiss, Randa Maroufi, and Tarek Lakhrissi.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A between Róisín Tapponi, founder of Shasha Movies, and Aisha Bolaji, Director and Screenwriter.

PhotoIreland Festival 2023:
Main Exhibitions at OPW Dublin Castle

Running until 23rd July
At The Printworks, Dublin Castle

The four main exhibitions of PhotoIreland Festival 2023 are now open at The Printworks at Dublin Castle.

Dust
Catherine E. McKinley curates a photography-based multimedia 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.

I See the Face of Things to Come
Curated by Renée Mussai and presenting the works of Aida Silvestri, Bernice Mulenga, Frida Orupabo, Heather Agyepong, Hélène Amouzou, Lola Flash, Mónica de , Phoebe Boswell, Sethembile Msezane, Silvia Rosi, and Zanele Muholi, I See the Face of Things to Come borrows [words] from a song recorded by Nina Simone in 1969, entitled Revolutions. A work in progress curated site-specifically for PhotoIreland Festival, 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.

Double Exposures
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 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.

RELAY
RELAY is a new artist-driven and artist-focused mentorship programme by PhotoIreland. Each year, RELAY will see an invited artist engaging in a mentorship and development process with emerging artists, responding to the thematics of the festival. In 2023, the invited artist is Alice Rekab working with Irish and Ireland-based artists from of the African diaspora, selected through an open call: E The Artist (Daranijoh Sanni), Samantha Brown, and Tobi Balogun.

PhotoIreland Festival is kindly supported by Arts Council of Ireland,Dublin City Council, The Office of Public Works, and Inspirational Arts. RELAY is additionally supported by The Digital Hub.

Image: Installation of Mónica de Miranda, featuring works from 'The Island', 2022, commissioned by Autograph, and 'Path to the Stars', 2022. Part of the exhibition 'I See the Face of Things to Come' curated by Renée Mussai for PhotoIreland, and presented at The Printworks, Dublin Castle, with the kind support of OPW - Office of Public Works, The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Dublin City Council, RTÉ, The British Journal of Photography, OVER Journal, The Digital Hub, Dublin, and with the expertise of our printing partner Inspirational Arts and Picture Bloc.

And You, Why Are You Black?
Rubén H. Bermudez

Running 2 July-27 August
At The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar Street, D02YK53

And You, Why Are You Black? is an open, personal and collective archive of the construction of Blackness as a political force in Spain. The project comes to life from a process of decolonisation, unpacking the racism behind the question that everyone the artist meets asks: “If you were born in Spain, why are you black?”.

Starting from an investigation into the origins of Spanish black slavery, Rubén Bermúdez reconstructs an autobiographical narrative that serves as a political essay on the history of African culture in the West. Taking inspiration from his memory of the images, conversations and symbols that have marked his life, the artist recalls some of the everyday and out-of-the-ordinary events as seen from a Black perspective.

The exhibition is additionally supported by Acción Cultural Española and Instituto Cervantes Dublin.

A very special Thank You
to Inspirational Arts

Each year, the festival is supported by a number of individuals and organisations who, out of their love for photography and support for artists in Ireland, make everything happen.

But we wish to dedicate a very special thank you to Inspirational Arts, the most committed, professional, friendly, helpful, and precise fine art printer in all of Ireland, if not Europe, if not the world. Inspirational Arts is spearheaded by Ed Dunne and Jim Butler, printing works for not only for most Irish galleries and artists, but their impressive portfolio includes monumental exhibitions such as Hy-Brasil for 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale and Eamonn Doyle's retrospective in the Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, amongst many others.

We are often asked for recommendations of fine art printers and Inspirational Arts is always our answer.

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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