I’m sad to hear of the passing a few days ago of Ollie Dowling, the founder of Jazz fm, Dublin’s only “urban” pirate radio station. He gave me a two-hour show there between 1998 and 2002, which I called The Deep End and enjoyed doing very much.
Read MoreAcquired
As the year comes to an end, I’m delighted to receive the news that my portrait of the artist Michael Kane has been acquired by the National Gallery.
Read MoreAt the Kitchen Table
A series of photographs made after my mother died in September 2016.
Read MoreTwo Years Later
It's been two years this week since my solo exhibition Post-State opened in the RHA Gallery. Many of the works have been shown in other exhibitions since then - click image for more details and images.
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Photograph by Bill McHugh / Herman's Auctioneers
Biddable
I’m delighted to have this work in the upcoming Contours Contemporary Art auction in Hermans Auctioneers, Dublin.Click through for details.
Read MoreSeasons of the Pole
The last one is shot through a 150-year-old wibbly windowpane, which will soon be replaced by double-glazing. I’ll miss it.
I'M ON THE DART*
*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.
Island Photographers on Tour
I had a lot of fun moderating the discussion at the Island Photographers event "The Photobook as a Work of Art" in So Fine Editions Gallery on Saturday with Sarah Navan, Roisin White, Philip Arneill and Brian Sparks. Looking forward to more outings like this.
Photographs by Fionn McCann.
Installation shot by Brian Sparks
So Fine Summer
I’m very glad to have two pieces in BOKEH, the So Fine Art Editions Summer Photography Show. One is the latest from my Disco Vegetables series, and the other is from an upcoming project about islands.
Disco Vegetables - Long Aubergines 2, 2024, Archival Pigment print, 60h x 45w cm, Ed. of 10
Home, Inis Oírr 2024, Archival Pigment print, 43h x 60w cm, Ed. of 10
R.I.P. Assassination Custard
I'm very sorry to hear that the amazing (and tiny) Assassination Custard cafe has finally closed its doors
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Also sprach Horganista
A great video about the "Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century" exhibition currently showing in Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
Read MoreA Glorious Victory
When I brought Ferdia there he told me it was exactly the kind of place he’d imagined
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Flag no. 13, from the exhibition Post-State, 2022
Something's Got To Give
There was a slight kerfuffle when an over-eager security guard rushed out to try and stop me
Read MoreZurück nach Berlin
Back to Berlin
Read MoreChanging States in Berlin
I’m very happy to have two of my works included in the Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century exhibition, currently on show in Berlin
Read MoreIsland Photographers
One of the highlights of the past eighteen months has been my involvement with Island Photographers
Read MoreApril in Paris
A last-minute house swap in Paris
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Artist Michael Kane, photographed in his studio on 11th March 2024
Michael Kane
A portrait of the artist Michael Kane
Read MoreStation to Station
An interesting project - to retrace Katherine Mansfield’s steps around Paris and Fontainbleau.
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Cecilia 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
Oh Toads
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.