Javier Leite
List of all PhotoIreland 2012 Festiva exhibitions I went to see on the 11th of July 2012.
I had a great day!!!
10:00 - 19:00
Took Strength To Tackle Those Hills is a photographic portrait of a community and a landscape experiencing particular economic and social transition. Cork Harbour’s dramatic topography of steep Victorian hinterland, lush greenbelt woods and forests sits side by side with the emission stacks of oil refineries and the grey geometries of multinational corporations hidden behind hills and the waning of its curved harbour. The relics of heavy industry past such lie abandoned on its shores, the landscape irrevocably transformed, leaving behind the imprint of economic and political endeavors. This suggests an uneasy and complex alliance between politics, economy and nature.
11:00 - 18:00
Gallery of Photography Ireland and Galerie m Bochum present the Irish premiere of the work of Evelyn Hofer (1922–2009). At the heart of this specially curated exhibition are Hofer’s beautiful and considered photographs made during her visit to Dublin in 1966. In colour and black and white, the work captures Ireland at the tipping point between an older, more conservative culture and the emerging modern world.
10:00 - 17:00
David Monahan’s series Leaving Dublin is a photographic tribute to the courage and efforts of those who have left their homeland. For over two years now, he has been capturing emigrants as they prepare to leave Ireland in search of better opportunities abroad. His images have a heroic touch, as if to celebrate the person, to show they are full of pride, full of dignity, that they are strong, upright and confident. In this sense, the exhibition Living-Leaving brings together two strands of one and the same story, and reminds us that the intensely personal decision to emigrate will not only dramatically shape the future lives of those who leave, but also has a huge impact on those left behind.
12:00 - 18:00
‘Neither’ is an exhibition of work created between 2009-2012 looking at the situation of young women in Kaliningrad, Russia. Locked into dreams of a future that their homeland cannot recognise or fulfill they look afar. They live separated from both their motherland and the new Europe and must struggle to negotiate their own place in a society in continual flux. “The women I have been living with and sharing with have generously opened up their homes and their minds to allow me to better understand this link between place, identity and history. They have guided me through the stories of this region and the effect it has had on the individual. Kaliningrad has been isolated geographically and politically from the beginning and numerous women have never gotten a chance to travel to ‘Big Russia’ but still hold onto their Russian roots. They have given me an opportunity to fully explore this post-soviet culture and the roles that they play within it telling me of their dreams and fears. Caught between a rich Russian history and the new Europe these strong women search out their place between the two worlds.”
“Celebrating my 10th year off the fags, I thought that I would shoot a series of smokers’ portraits, they are after all… a dying breed… Banished to the back of office buildings, kicked out onto the street outside pubs and restaurants, they are the lepers of our society. Yet, they are the ones who have the best craic, the juiciest gossip and the strongest connections. This collection is dedicated to these masons of a new age. I don’t – or rather I no longer – believe in stealing someone’s image from the safe distance afforded by a 300mm telelens. I enjoy the interaction, the eye contact, the simplicity of the approach. I am fast. The first frame is usually the best, like a photographic DNA sample which, I hope, captures borrows the essence of the model. I have not embarked on an anti smoking crusade. I am not a preacher. I only ask three questions of all the people I photograph: their first name, the average number of cigarettes they smoke in a day, their age when they first started smoking.”
12:00 - 23:30
Na Caipíní is an exhibition of portraits, printed as large scale murals, that engages with the changes and continuations in the cultural landscape of the West Kerry Gaelteacht of Corca Dhuibhne on the Dingle Penninsula.
10:00 - 17:30
The Molesworth Gallery presents a selection of work by some of the key names in photography and design from the 1950′s to the 1970′s. The exhibition includes important portraits of Marcel Duchamp, Frank Stella, Piet Mondrian, Jean Arp and Henry Miller by renowned photographer Arnold Newman. Also featured are works by David Bailey, Lucien Clergue, Horst P Horst and Cornel Lucas.
10:00 - 17:30
The Big Sky images were made over recent months in the epic landscape of Co. Mayo. Here, visiting locations that have become increasingly familiar to her. Working with traditional film, the large format, hand held Mamiya, translates truthfully the drama of light, weather and isolation that descends on this corner of Ireland. In each composition the sky envelops the presence of man, a shed, a ruined cottage, a half-open gate. The narrative may seem familiar but the technique feels almost painterly. Amelia Stein speaks about waiting for the photograph to find her rather than chasing the elusive image. The fluency of the Big Sky images shows that her patience has been rewarded.
This first show, focused on the relationship between syncretistic religions and contemporary photography, had a great impact in its first venue, the Fototeca de Cuba (Havana’s National Museum of Photography) in 2003. For political and historic reasons, the part of Cuban photographic production that was unrelated to the social reality of the Revolution did not find any interest at the time and for many years after. Historically, documentary and religious photography were lacking public acceptance and were not promoted by the art institutions. Also, the formal aperture of Cuban photography towards more “conceptual” tendencies did not happen before the 1980s, only then allowing the development of new approaches to the religious theme.
10:00 - 18:00
Jens Komossa’s exhibition in The Return Gallery in the Goethe Institut, features several of his Television Rooms photographs. These eerie images are taken using only the light, which emanates from the occupant’s television after dark. Komossa’s photographic technique requires a long exposure time. The final outcome not only reflects the image of the room but also somehow evokes the time spent in the space. Jens Komossa places his camera directly in front of the television, with the lens directed not towards the screen but rather back into the room. You can imagine the room being somehow engaged in a long dialogue with the television (discussing the ideas transmitted), while bathed in its light. This acts as a reversed stage set where light is part of the occupant’s arrangement of their space. By setting up their TV in a particular room, at a certain angle, they create their own installation.
09:30 - 17:30
’20×20: Peripheries’ examines what it means to continue living in these times but without focusing on the problems we face. Through these images we cast our gaze sideways for the moments that reiterate our shared existence. From surreal and deeply poignant metaphors to narrative documents, from documentary to abstract, ’20 x 20: Peripheries’ combines disparate images from some of the most promising photographic students and graduates emerging from Ireland’s photographic degree programmes, to give a complete and deeply meaningful reflection of the individually combined aspects of our continuing society today. As each image imagines an element of what it takes to be a community, the exhibition shows that like each individual, we are ‘more than the sum of our parts’.
10:00 - 18:00
‘Unsettled’ has been awarded, published and exhibited nationally and internationally since 2008 and received a project grant from the Dutch ‘Anna Cornelis foundation’ in 2010. A book publication of the series is scheduled for late 2012.
www.unsettled.eu
09:00 - 18:30
Nationality might seem like a universal birthright, but an estimated 12 million people are living without it. These stateless people have no legal identity, are citizens of no country and are some of the most vulnerable and invisible people in the world.
11:00 - 19:00
The 182nd RHA Annual Exhibition features photographs by Amelia Stein, Abigail O’Brien, David Farrell, Elaine Byrne, Tamsin Snow, Armelle Skatulski, Remco De Fouw, Andrew Duggan and Siobhan Dempsey, CX Hayden, Anna Rackard, Jeanette Lowe, Ulla Schildt, Miriam O’Connor, David Creedon and Jamie Young among others.
