The 2022 PhotoIreland Festival: Opening The Gates
The 13th iteration of the PhotoIreland Festival presented the most comprehensive overview on the History and Practice of Photography in Ireland to date. Entitled and themed Opening The Gates, this edition of the festival centered around the unbolting potential and power of photography. Conceptually speaking, unleashing, “opening” is about letting down barriers, creating room, potential, for: discomfort, intimacy, connection, and confrontation. It’s stating the oft unspoken, it’s allowing in a new perspective. Consider a gate— built to divide, enclose, delineate, and protect. The 2022 PhotoIreland festival invited the public not to tear down these gates, but examine them, question them, open them, and venture through them, past them. In opening gates through provocative photography, this festival dealt with themes of the Anthropocene, domesticity, space, landscape, identity, gender, queerness, the political potential of art, and so much more.
We welcome you to the digital archive of this festival. We invite you to Open the Gates.
Key Dates, Events and Locations
- July 7th: Festival Launch
- Overall Festival Dates: July 7th-August 25th, 2022
- Artists Talk Series: July 9th and 15th
- Primary Location: The Printworks, Dublin Castle
- Other locations for events, exhibitions, and FIE affiliated festival activities: Rathfarnham Castle, The Library Project, SO Fine Art Editions, Lismore Castle Arts, Co. Waterford, Rua Red, Dublin,The Glucksman, Co. Cork, Crawford Art Gallery, Co. Cork, Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, The Darkroom, Dublin.
The Festival
The nature of the PhotoIreland Festival is defined by its plasticity, not its rigidity. Meaning, the format of the festival adapts and changes yearly in by its inclusions and in its nature. Examining photography as a developmental discipline, and looking into New Irish works, subversive portraiture, pansensorial installations, and visual analysis of life’s finality, the 2022 Festival showcased six exhibitions and two video installations. These presentations are assimilated with selected RADAR artists — PhotoIreland’s Research and Development Artist Residency drawing from all Photography degrees of Ireland, from Diploma to MA, showcases photographic projects by five recent graduates—and a reading room providing the broadest presentation of Irish photobooks, largely drawn from the PhotoIreland Collection among others.
During the festival, OVER Journal, PhotoIreland’s own periodic publication promoting critical engagement with photography, also revealed its new online presence and announced its forthcoming third volume. Throughout the month-long festival, events ranging from artist talk series, to Think Thanks (Open conversations that explore histories of photographic practices, technologies, exhibitions and archives) hosted by the Critical Academy.
Main Exhibition
“Images Are All We Have” traces the thematic development of the discipline and contextualises the historical background of the photographic medium in Ireland, highlighting the diverse and socially engaged set of contemporary art practices that define Irish Photography today. This survey exhibition spans several generations, practices, and backgrounds, including video installations by Alan Butler and Eamonn Doyle, alongside a screening room presenting a schedule of video works. The exhibition also assimilated the works of 2022’s selected RADAR artists.
Featured Exhibitions
- “On the Irish Photobook” a reading room of Irish photobooks is framed within the second installment of the Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland — a public-facing research project run by PhotoIreland since 2019.
- The triennial project New Irish Works returns for a fourth edition. Having invited an international jury to identify and select ten notable works, this show aimed to represent and promote the growing diversity of contemporary photographic practices in Ireland.
- Daragh Soden’s “Ladies & Gentlemen”: a subversive series of large format portraits that raised questions around gender roles, photographer-subject relationships, and the performativity of identity takes place in Rathfarnham Castle.
- Letizia Lopreiato’s “The Timelapse – From the Front”: a pansensorial installation that depicted the artist’s journey of acceptance of her own visual impairment through art.
- Brian Magee’s “Anna’s Notes”:offers a thoughtful glimpse to his daughter’s struggle getting to grips with life’s finite nature and its everyday challenges. (Anna’s notes)
Educational Programming and Events
2022’s engaging talks, curatorial and artists tours, and many other events
- Artist Talk Series
- Cyanotype Workshops
- Photobook Launch: Naive, Next Exit, and TWO
- Poetry and Photography: In Conversation
- Photo Walk
- Portfolio Reviews
- Think Thank: On Histories 1 & 2, Photography as an Empathetic Gesture
Overview
PhotoIreland Festival 2022
Opening the Gates
Images Are All We Have, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
Ladies & Gentlemen, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, 9 July- 7 August
Video Works, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
Anna’s Notes, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
The Timelapse — From the Front, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
Made in Dublin, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
On Exactitude in Science, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, 8 July—25 August
TWO, Eamonn Doyle, The Library Project, 16 July—28th August
STILL, SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin, 10—30 July
girls girls girls, Lismore Castle Arts, Co. Waterford, 2 Apr—30 Oct 2022
The Tower, Rua Red, Dublin, 27 May—27 August
Art Forms in Nature, The Glucksman, Co. Cork, 7 April—10 July
Meat and Potatoes, Crawford Art Gallery, Co. Cork, 16 July—6th Nov
I Am Sitting in a Room, Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, 18 Jun—5 Aug
Bones in the Attic, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, 11 Aug—30 Oct
Loose on the Streets, Karen Browett, The Darkroom, Dublin, 25 August—7 September
Events
Artists Talk Series: RADAR Artists 2022, Ayesha Ahmad, Daniel Breen, Ryan Allen, and Sarah Navan, Sat 20 August
Family Cyanotype Workshop, Sat 9 July
Ireland Creates: Live, 13 August
Photobook Launch: Naïve, Sat 9 July, The Printworks
Photobook Launch: The Drift /// Parallax, 25th August
Photobook Launch: Next Exit, 14 July, The Printworks
Poetry and Photography: In Conversation. Writer Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan talks to photographers Michelle Moloney and Letizia Lopreiato about the connection between poetry and photography, 9 July, The Printworks
Photo Walk, Aidan Kelly, Ailbhe Greaney, Aisling Keavey, Ala Buisir, Alisha Doody, Amy O’Riordan, Audrey Gillespie, Austin Hearne, Basil Al-Rawi, Becks Butler, Bernadette Keating, Chad Alexander, Clare Gallagher, Daragh Soden, Emma Campbell, Emma O’Brien, Ethna Rose O’Regan, Gary Byrne, Jamin Keogh, Jan McCullough, Jean Curran, Jeanette Lowe, Jialin Long, Kate Nolan, Kate Swift, Mark McGuinness, Olamide Ojegbenro, Paul Gaffney, Pauline Rowan, Rachel Glass, Richard Gosnold, Shane Lynam, and Sinéad Curran, Fri 15 July. Amy O’Riordan, Billy Woods, Bryony Dunne, Daniel Breen, David Copeland, David Killeen, David Monahan, Debbie Castro, Diego Fabro, Dorje de Burgh, Enda Burke, Fiona-Louise Ntidendereza, Gerry Blake, Helio Leon, Jill Quigley, Kety Duran, Mark Duffy, Martin Seeds, Myles Shelly, Niamh Barry, Ruby Wallis, Ryan Allen, Sarah Navan, Seán Hillen, Sibéal Riordan, Steven Nestor, Tessy Ehiguese, Thomas Hall, Vera Ryklova, Vukasin Nedeljkovic, and Zoe Hamill, Sat 16 July.
Think Tank – Photography: An Empathetic Gesture?,25 August
Think Tank – On Histories II, 29 July
Think Tank – On Histories I, 22 July
Artists Talk Series I, Jean Curran and David Flood, 9 July
Supported by
Grant Aid Support by
Arts Council of Ireland
Arts Council of Ireland Festivals
Dublin City Council
Partners & Sponsors
OPW
Irish Arts Services
Inspirational Arts
Hahnemühle
Picture Bloc
Irish Arts Review
RTE Supporting the Arts
OVER Journal
Totally Dublin
The Digital Hub
NIVAL
CAIN
PHOTOESPAÑA
Collections & Archives Presented
Arts Council of Ireland
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Office of Public Works State Art Collection
Newry and Mourne Museum
Irish Museum of Modern Art + David Kronn
Butler Gallery
Crawford Art Gallery
CAIN Archive
University Cork College Art Collection
Green on Red Gallery
SO Fine Art Editions
National Museums Northern Ireland
Queer Culture Ireland, and other private collections
Contributors
Aarif Amod, Abigail O’Brien, Adrian Wojtas, Aidan Kelly, Aerandir Baiza, Ailbe Collins, Ailbhe Greaney, Ailbhe Ni Bhriain, Aindreas Scholz, Aisling Kane, Aisling McCoy, Ala Buisir, Alan Butler, Alan Phelan, Alec Moore, Alisha Doody, Amelia Stein, Amy O’Riordan, Amy Walsh, Andrew Hetherington, Andrew Rankin, Angel Luis Gonzalez, Anna Rackard, Anthony Haughey, Aoife Giles, Aoife Herrity, Aoife Shanahan, Audrey Gillespie, Austin Hearne, Ayesha Ahmad, Barney McMonagle, Barry W. Hughes, Basil Al Rawi, Becks Butler, Benedict Hutchinson, Benjamin Malcolmson, Bernadette Keating, Bill Rolston, Billy Kenrick, Billy Woods, Bob Negryn, Brendan Murphy, Brian Cooney, Brian Cregan, Brian Magee, Bronwyn Andrews, Brian Teeling, Bronwyn Andrews, Bryan Hogan, Bryony Dunne, Cáit Fahey, Caitriona Dunnett, Caroline Mc Nally, Catarina Leone, Cecil Newman, Chad Alexander, Charlotta Hammer, Cristina Gismondi, Christine Redmond, Cian Burke, Ciaran Dunbar, Ciaran Óg Arnold, Clare Gallagher, Clare Langan, Clare Lyons, Clare Steele, Claudi Nir, Conor Horgan, Conor McMahon, Daniel Breen, Daniel Holfeld, Dara McGrath, Daragh Soden, Darn Thorn, Darragh Kerrigan, David Copeland, David Farrell, David Killeen, David McIlveen, David Monahan, David O’Mara, David Thomas Smith, Debbie Castro, Declan Kelly, Dejan Karin, Dennis Dinneen, Dianne Whyte, Diego Fabro, Dominic Turner, Donovan Wylie, Dorje de Burgh, Doug DuBois, Doug Soubey, Dragana Jurisic, Dylan Davies, Eamon Doyle, Eamon Melaugh, Eamonn Doyle, Eanna De Freine, Elaine Byrne, Elise Fisher, Elius Grace, Ellie Berry, Emer Gillespie, Emilia Rigaud, Emma Campbell, Emma Jane McAleese, Emma O’Brien, Enda Bowe, Enda Burke, Eoghan McTigue, Eric van Kampen, Erica Coburn, Ethna O’Regan, Eva O’Leary, Faolán Carey, Fergus Bourke, Fergus Jordan, Fiachra Corcoran, Fiona Hackett, Fiona-Louise Ntidendereza, Frank Abruzzese, Frank Miller, Frankie Quinn, Frederic Huska, Gareth Byrne, Gareth McConnell, Garry Loughlin, Gary Byrne, Gary Coyle, Gavin Mullan, George Voronov, Gerard Byrne, Gerry Balfe Smyth, Gerry Blake, Giulia Berto, Glorija Lizde, Grainne Quinlan, Gregory Dunn, Hannah Donohue, Hannah Starkey, Harry Moore, Helena Gouveia Monteiro, Helio Leon, Hue Hale, Hugh O’Conor, Hugh Quigley, Ieva Baltaduonyte, Iryna Baklan, Izabela Szczutkowska, Jackie Nickerson, James Clancy, James Forde, James Parkin, Jamie Young, Jamin Keogh, Jan McCullough, Jane Cummins, JB Maher, Jean Curran, Jeanette Lowe, Jialin Long, Jill Quigley, Joanne Mullin, Joby Hickey, Joe Campbell, Joe Marner, Joe Sterling, John Duncan, John Foley, John McAleer, John Minihan, Johnnie Doyle, Johnny Savage, Jonathan McCormick, Josef Kovac, Julia Gelezova, Julia Mejnertsen, Justyna Kielbowicz, Karl Burke, Kate Nolan, Kate Swift, Kathrin Baumbach, Kenneth O’Halloran, Kety Duran, Kevin Gaffney, Kevin Griffin, Kieran Rose, Kim Haughton, Leanne McDonagh, Leanne Sullivan, Leon Nevill Gallagher, Les Levine, Letizia Lopreiato, Liam Murphy, Linda Brownlee, Linda Plunkett, Lorraine Tuck, Louise Wallace, Luca Truffarelli, Luke Faulkner, Malcolm McGettigan, Mandy O Neill, Mark Curran, Mark Duffy, Mark McGuinness, Martin Cregg, Martin Healy, Martin McGagh, Martin Melaugh, Martin Seeds, Martina Cleary, Mary Hamill, Mary McIntyre, Matthew Thompson, Maurice Gunning, Megan Doherty, Mella Travers, Michael Boran, Michael Corrigan, Michael Durand, Michael Hanna, Michelle Moloney, Mick O’Kelly, Miriam O’ Connor, Moira Sweeney , Motoko Fujita, Muireann Brady, Myles Shelly, Neil Jarman, Niall O’Brien, Niamh Barry, Niamh Smith, Noel Bowler, Olamide Ojegbenro, Paddy Kiernan, Padraig Spillane, Patrick Hogan, Patrick O’Byrne, Paul Carroll, Paul Corcoran, Paul Crispin, Paul Gaffney, Paul McCarthy, Paul Seawright, Paula Álvarez, Paula Barrett, Pauline Rowan, Perry Odgen, Peter Moloney, Peter Neill, Peter O’Doherty, Phelim Hoey, Rachel Glass, Rich Gilligan, Richard Gosnold, Richard Mosse, Richard Wade, Robert Ellis, Robert McCormack, Róisín White, Ronan McCall, Rose Comiskey, Roseanne Lynch, Ross McDonnell, Ruby Wallis, Ruth Connolly, Ruth Medjber, Ryan Allen, Samantha Brown, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Sarah Cullen, Sarah Flynn, Sarah Louise Lordan, Sarah Navan, Sarah Panell, Sarah Ryan, Sean Breithaupt, Sean Hillen, Sebastian Farron-Mahon, Shane Hynan, Shane Lynam, Shannon Guerrico, Shia Conlon, Sibéal Riordan, Simon Bates, Simon Burch, Sinead Curran, Sonya Whitefield, Stefania Sapio, Steven Nestor, Suzanne Mooney, Tessy Ehiguese, Tim Durham, Tom Wood, Tommie Lehane, Tommy Weir, Tony Murray, Tony O’Shea, Trish Morrissey, Tristan Hutchinson, Vera Ryklova, Victor Sloan, Victoria J Dean, Vukasin Nedeljkovic, Wally Cassidy, William L. Rukeyser, Willie Doherty, Yvette Monahan, and Zoe Hamill
Team
Artistic Director/Curator
Ángel Luis González Fernández
General Manager
Julia Gelezova
Curatorial Assistant
Ashleigh Wilson
Digital Content
Lucy Tevlin
Research Assistant
Chloe Maguire
Digital Archiving
Ruth Downey, Eva Comerford
Production Team
Frank Brennan
Dáire McEvoy
Tadhg Charles
Under the title #OpeningTheGates, the 13th edition of PhotoIreland Festival presented the most comprehensive overview on the History and Practice of Photography in Ireland to date.
Press
PhotoIreland Festival 2022 reviewed in The Visual Artists News Sheet
- https://www.vogue.com/article/photo-festival-season-kicks-off-heres-what-to-visit-in-the-summer
- https://www.wallpaper.com/art/daragh-soden-ladies-and-gentlemen-interview
- https://phmuseum.com/news/a-guide-to-julys-international-photography-festivals
- https://www.image.ie/agenda/letizia-lopreiato-meet-the-artists-showcasing-at-the-dean-art-studio-515367
Under the title #OpeningTheGates, the 13th edition of PhotoIreland Festival presents the most comprehensive overview on the History and Practice of Photography in Ireland to date, running 7th July to 25th August 2022 in various locations, with the main venue at The Printworks, Dublin Castle.
The main exhibition Images Are All We Have traces the thematic development of the discipline and contextualises the historical background, bringing together the diverse and socially engaged set of contemporary art practices that define Irish Photography today. This survey exhibition on the discipline involves artists spanning several generations, practices, and backgrounds, and will include video installations by Alan Butler and Eamonn Doyle, alongside a screening room presenting a schedule of video works. The exhibition also assimilates the works of this year’s selected RADAR artists — PhotoIreland’s Research and Development Artist Residency drawing from all Photography degrees of Ireland, from Diploma to MA, showcases photographic projects by five recent graduates.
The extensive presentation is accompanied by an exhibition On the Irish Photobook, a reading room providing the broadest presentation of Irish photobooks, drawn from the PhotoIreland Collection as much as others both public and private.
PhotoIreland frames this ambitious exhibition within the second instalment of the Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland — a public-facing research project run by PhotoIreland since 2019 that aims to investigate the ideal prototype space to actively engage with Visual Culture and Critical Thinking today. Spread across a generous 2000m², visitors can access a set of exhibitions and video installations introducing many works, some well-known and some never exhibited before, while trailing along a history that sees the transformation of a technology into a fully matured artistic practice.
Four more exhibitions complement the official offer: New Irish Works, and solo shows premiering new work by Daragh Soden, Letizia Lopreiato, and Brian Magee.
The triennial project New Irish Works returns for a fourth edition with selected works by Audrey Gillespie, Bryony Dunne, Cian Burke, Jialin Long, Mark Duffy, Martin Cregg, Martin Seeds, Pauline Rowan, Róisín White, and Shia Conlon. The project invites an international jury to identify and select ten notable works, aiming to represent and promote the growing diversity of contemporary photographic practices in Ireland.
Daragh Soden’s Ladies & Gentlemen brings to public view for the first time a new body of work by the Dublin born artist; it is a subversive series of large format portraits that raises questions around gender roles, photographer-subject relationships and the performativity of identity.
Letizia Lopreiato presents The Timelapse – From the Front, a pansensorial installation, depicting the artist’s journey of acceptance of her own visual impairment through art.
In his latest work, Brian Magee offers a thoughtful glimpse to his daughter’s struggle getting to grips with life’s finite nature and its everyday challenges.
The Critical Academy provides a series of Think Tanks looking at historical developments from Photo History to Arts practice, researching a Photography museum of the 21st century, investigating Empathy in Photography, and strengthening the sector with conversations around Artists rights. All this alongside engaging talks, curatorial and artists tours, and many other events.
During the festival, OVER Journal will reveal its long time coming new online presence. The event will inform of new developments and updated strategies as much as share tips for submissions, and a programme of events will be announced.
In producing this edition, PhotoIreland has consulted and collaborated with many key individuals, organisations, archives and repositories. Together, they constitute the broad and rich ecosystem that supports Photography in Ireland.
The rather unusual inward look of this edition of Ireland’s international Photography festival brings together PhotoIreland’s ongoing research on the subject initiated in 2017, and it comes to celebrate the discipline and all its agents, from the artists to the organisations involved. A new online resource will provide unlimited access to the research.
