*thanks to the Little Museum of Dublin
Tá mé ar an DART, buíochas le Músaem Beag Bhaile Átha Cliath
And I’m on the wireless, in this short documentary about the Presidential poster image.
*thanks to the Little Museum of Dublin
Tá mé ar an DART, buíochas le Músaem Beag Bhaile Átha Cliath
And I’m on the wireless, in this short documentary about the Presidential poster image.
I'm very sorry to hear that the amazing (and tiny) Assassination Custard cafe has finally closed its doors
Read MoreWhen I brought Ferdia there he told me it was exactly the kind of place he’d imagined
Read MoreArtist Michael Kane, photographed in his studio on 11th March 2024
A portrait of the artist Michael Kane
Read MoreCecilia Bullo - Oh Toads of the river, grieve. Oh Toads of the wetlands, Lament for me. Oh Land, grieve for me. 2023/24. Photographic print on vinyl 300x150 cm
I was delighted to collaborate with Cecilia Bullo on making her new artwork, “Oh Toads of the river, grieve. Oh Toads of the wetlands, Lament for me. Oh Land, grieve for me. 2023/24”.
It was an intense shoot, not least because she had approximately 18.5 kilos of jesmenite sculptures of toads perched on her airways throughout. I first met Cecilia by chance when I saw her show Being Haunted by the Breezes, Now How Will You Exist? at the Royal Hibernian Academy. I was very taken with the horde of toad sculptures all facing into a corner of the dimly-lit gallery, and was intrigued when I saw a note on the wall saying that they were available to buy. When I asked about this at the reception desk downstairs they told me I could just take whichever ones I wanted from the exhibit. I went back upstairs, announced to the several people watching that I’d been given permission to remove some toads and made my way towards the exit. A figure came out the darkness, wreathed in smiles. This was Cecilia. She was delighted I liked her toads and informed me they were made from ‘Jesmenite, toad DNA and spells”. “What kind of spells?” I asked.
“Good ones” she replied.
This work is part of Distinct, an exhibition in Project Arts Centre curated by Alan James Burns which explores the climate crisis through the perspective of disability. From the exhibition notes: “Cecilia Bullo presents a large-scale photographic work that reformulates cast sculptures of toads as a wearable assemblage on her body, exploring material cultures relating to rituals of healing and transformation through mythological, archaeological, feminist and ecological lenses.”
Artwork by Cecilia Bullo.
Curatorial direction by AlanJames Burns.
Production support by Marie Farrington.
Photography by Conor Horgan.
Photographic assistance by Sara Pirani
Makeup by Christopher Mc Cormack.
The exhibition runs until April 20th in Project Arts Centre, Dublin.
Thanks to Leanne Sullivan for the gallery photo of me with Cecilia and my intern Sara Pirani, who assisted on the shoot.
I made this portrait of one of Cecilia’s toads in my studio. Apparently she’s called Lucille.
Frank Callery has included two poems based on my photographs in his latest book.
Read MoreAn update about some upcoming auctions, group exhibitions and books which feature my work.
Wonderful news today about poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin being shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize
Read MoreMy portrait of writer Nicole Flattery, whose new book “Nothing Special” has just been given a rave review in the The New Yorker.
Congratulations are due to three debut novelists I’ve recently photographed.
Read MoreA pilgrimage in New York
Read MoreMichael Snoek and his wife Dorothee have been family friends since I was a small boy. He was working as a geophysicist in Hamburg when I passed through as a teenage runaway, and he was kind enough to get me a life-changing job with the Max Planck Institut that took me off to live and work in Greece and Morocco as a geo-electrical surveyor. Some years later they moved to Ireland and Michael became very involved with photography and was one of the founders of the Kamera 8 gallery in Wexford. He’s just launched his fantastic new site, link here.
Much like myself, Michael is not half as stern as he sometimes seems in photographs.
Michael Snoek, photographed at home in Wexford, July 2020.
I think I was about nine when Michael took this picture of me.
You can see more of my portraits of friends and family here.
This is my portrait of musician Breanndán O' Beaglaoich, which was taken as part of a series of portraits of artists-in-residence at the Irish Cultural Centre, Paris. He’s featured in an upcoming RTE documentary 'The Man with the Moving House’, which documents Begley’s fifteen year battle with Kerry County Council to build a small traditional home in his ancestral village on the Dingle Peninsula. The film airs on Thursday, 25th August at 10.15pm on RTÉ ONE, and you can see more of my en résidence portraits here.
Tom Clonan is a very interesting character. He’s a former Army officer and whistleblower, who produced a damning report about the mistreatment of women in the Defence Forces.
Read MoreBehind-the-scenes photo by Ailbhe O'Donnell
He smiled and reached into his pocket, saying he had it in a small glass jar if I'd like to see it?
Read MoreJonathan Philbin Bowman ( 1969-2000) photographed for Harpers & Queen magazine, mid 90’s.
My friend Jonathan Philbin Bowman, journalist and broadcaster, who died on this day twenty-two years ago.
He was such great company - precocious, quick-witted, argumentative, hilarious and utterly original. I’ve never met anyone quite like him, and still miss him a lot.
You can hear his voice in this beautiful, moving tribute by Roger Doyle, who took an answering machine message Jonathan had left him and set it to music.
The portrait was made for a profile in Harpers & Queen magazine written by Sean O’Hagen, and you can see a print of it in the Little Museum of Dublin’s collection.
Fintan O’Toole, photographed at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris in June 2019
Congratulations to Fintan O'Toole, who has just won the An Post Irish Book of the Year 2021 for his We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958.
Read MoreSome of my work that’s been exhibited in the last year.
Read MoreTwo of my portraits of Mary Robinson, who became the first woman to be elected President of Ireland on this day in 1990.
Read MoreI’ve just opened an atelier / daylight studio and am looking forward to doing lots of good work in it.
Read More