New Irish Works presented at the Centre Culturel Irlandais during Paris Photo, in November 2016.
Artist Aisling McCoy speaking during a curatorial tour of the New Irish Works III presented at The Printworks, as part of PhotoIreland Festival in July 2019.
New Irish Works 2013 arrives in Japan.
New Irish Works is a triennial project run by PhotoIreland to represent and promote the growing diversity of contemporary photographic practices in Ireland. We want to enrich the Irish ecosystem with much needed new voices, new curatorial approaches, facilitate much deserved new opportunities, and invigorate the Irish photography scene.
In February 2022, out of a large pool of projects submitted to the open call, ten artists were selected by an international jury for New Irish Works 2022-2025. They are; Audrey Blue, This Hurts, Bryony Dunne, The Sky Only Welcomes Those with Wings, Cian Burke, I fear that the magic has left this place, Jialin Long, Red illuminates, Mark Duffy, On Pugin, Martin Cregg, The Plot, Martin Seeds, No Country for Young Men, Pauline Rowan, Under a Vaulted Sky, Róisín White, Cross the Child’s Palm with Silver, Shia Conlon, Sites of Dreaming.
New Irish Works 2022 provides:
- An artist fee of €400 for participation in the group installation in July for PhotoIreland Festival 2022
- An artist fee of €1000 for a solo exhibition in The Library Project
- A series of Professional Development sessions and consultancy services throughout the three year period.
In addition to the ongoing support, the programme will include:
- July 2022: Launch and group Installation part of PhotoIreland Festival 2022 at The Printworks, in Dublin Castle, during the second iteration of the Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland.
- January-December 2023: Each artist will enjoy a solo exhibition at The Library Project throughout 2023, culminating in a final publication in Autumn 2023.
We wish to extend a deep thank you to our jury this year; Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Chief Curator of Exhibitions, Finnish Museum of Photography (FI), Bindi Vora, Artist, Curator and Curatorial Project Manager at Autograph, London (UK), Cale Garrido, Independent journalist, Photo Editor, and Curator (ES/DE), Elias Redstone, Artistic Director, PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography, Melbourne (AU), István Virágvölgyi, Curator, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Budapest (HU), João Linneu & Myrto Steirou, VOID, Athens (GR), Kate Strain, Contemporary Art Curator, Dublin (IE), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Curator and Critic, Kumasi (GH), Natasha Christia, Curator, Writer, Educator, Barcelona (ES), Rein Deslé, Curator, FOMU Antwerp.(BE)
BACKGROUND
In 2013, New Irish Works presented a selection of 25 projects by photographers based in Ireland drawn from an open call. It is still today a solid representation of the growing diversity of practices on the island. In collaboration with several organisations, we programmed seven exhibitions in Limerick, Cork and Dublin, and launched a publication with the same name that has travelled wide and far.
It all was part of PhotoIreland Festival 2013, a year we dedicated in full to explore and promote local produce. Loads of positive things have happened ever since thanks to the project, and we know the book has helped materialising more than one opportunity for the photographers selected. Our work promoting the artists continues throughout the 3 year cycles, for example, donating the New Irish Works published books to specific collections around the world, and organising events and exhibitions.
The New Irish Works project, and others like Greetings From Ireland, HALFTONE, and the whole The Library Project itself, they have been quite successful in their own right promoting local artists and enriching the Irish ecosystem with much needed new voices, new curatorial approaches, and facilitating much deserved new opportunities. Indeed, all these, added to the hard work done by PhotoIreland Festival every year, they have invigorated a scene that oftentimes relied on migration as the route to success.
But we know that more needs to be done to promote local photographers and to further excite the scene; it is necessary to programme more relevant photographic exhibitions in Ireland throughout the year, opening up to the wealth of local talent we know exists. Also, we need to generate more publication opportunities, and achieve more international exposure. So we are cranking up a notch, again. This year, New Irish Works takes a new dimension, advancing the project with a different format.
New Irish Works 2013
In 2013, the jury was Karen McQuaid, curator at The Photographers Gallery, London; Michele Horrigan, artist and curator, Limerick; Ronan McCall, photographer and curator, Dublin; Pádraig Spillane and Pamela Condell, the curatorial team ‘Stag & Deer’, Cork; Moritz Neumüller and Ángel Luis González Fernández, from PhotoIreland Festival.
The 25 artists selected in 2013 were Barry W. Hughes, Cait Fahey, Caroline Mc Nally, Claudi Nir, David Thomas Smith, Dorje De Burgh, Dragana Jurisic, Ethna O’Regan, Grainne Quinlan, Ieva Baltaduonyte, Kevin Griffin, Linda Brownlee, Mandy O Neill, Martin Cregg, Maurice Gunning, Miriam O’ Connor, Muireann Brady, Patrick Hogan, Paul Gaffney, Robert Ellis, Roseanne Lynch, Shane Lynam, Shannon Guerrico, Stefania Sapio, and Yvette Monahan.
New Irish Works 2016
In 2016, and reviewed by an international panel of 23 professionals, New Irish Works brought you a selection of 20 projects and 20 photographers representing the diverse range of practices coming from Ireland. New Irish Works 2016 was a year long project of 10 presentations and 20 publications that highlighted the great moment Irish Photography is experiencing.
The artists selected were Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Aisling McCoy, Caitriona Dunnett, Dara McGrath, Daragh Soden, David Thomas Smith, Eanna de Freine, Emer Gillespie, Enda Bowe, Jan McCullough, Jill Quigley, Kate Nolan, Mandy O’Neill, Matthew Thompson, Miriam O’Connor, Noel Bowler, Robert McCormack, Roseanne Lynch, Shane Lynam, and Yvette Monahan.
Every month from July 2016 to July 2017, a special presentation was hosted at The Library Project for two of the selected artists at a time. The presentation included a display and a publication for each artist’s project. The first two artists presented, during PhotoIreland Festival 2016, were Daragh Soden and Mandy O’Neill.
As part of the project, PhotoIreland brought New Irish Works abroad at key events like PhotoEspaña, with the support of the Embassy of Ireland in Madrid, and to Paris during Paris Photo, in collaboration and with the kind support of the Centre Culturel Irlandais and Culture Ireland.
In 2016 the jury was: Alejandro Castellote, Director, MA Contemporary Photography, Centro de la Imagen, Lima, PE, Ángel Luis González Fernández, Director of PhotoIreland, Ângela Ferreira, Artistic Director, Encontros Da Imagem, Braga, PT, Azu Nwagbogu, Director, LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos, NG, Claire Monneraye, Curator, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, AU, Clara de Tezanos, Co-founder, La Fototeca, Guatemala, GU,Elsa Modin, Librarian, Hasselblad Foundation Library, Gothenburg, SE, Heidi Romano, Director & Founder, Photobook Melbourne, Melbourne, AU, Jenny Lindhe, Photographer, Curator & Publisher, Breadfield Gallery, Malmö, SE, Jörg Colberg, Founder & Editor, Conscientious Magazine, Northampton, US, Karen McQuaid, Curator, The Photographers Gallery, London, UK, Kim Knoppers, Curator, FOAM, Amsterdam, NL, Lars Boering, Managing Director, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, NL, Louise Clements, Artistic Director of QUAD & FORMAT, Derby, UK, Maira Dudareva, Head of Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, LV, María García Yelo, Director, PhotoEspaña, Madrid, ES, Martino Marangoni, Founder & President, Studio Marangoni, Florence, IT, Miranda Driscoll, Artistic Director, Sirius Arts Centre, Cork, IE, Moritz Neumüller, Chair of the Board & Curatorial Advisor, PhotoIreland, Peggy Sue Amison, Artistic Director, East Wing, Dubai, AE, Seán Kissane, Curator, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, IE, Stacey Baker, Photo Editor, The New York Times Magazine, New York, US, Yumi Goto, Curator, Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, JP.
New Irish Works 2019
In 2019, an invited independent jury assisted to the selection of ten projects from an international open call for the latest works by artists in and from Ireland.
The jury was: Alexa Becker, Photography Acquisitions Editor, Kehrer Verlag; Daniel Boetker Smith, Director, Asia Pacific Photobook Archive & Course Director, Photography Studies College, Melbourne; Susan Bright, Curator and Writer, Paris, France; Fiona Kearney, Director, The Glucksman, Cork, Ireland; Ingrid Leonard, Assistant Curator, FOMU, Antwerp, Belgium; Matt Packer, Director, EVA International, Limerick, Ireland; Nadya Sheremetova, Director and Curator of FotoDepartament Foundation, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Ingo Taubhorn, Curator, House of Photography and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany; Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.
The projects selected for the third edition of New Irish Works evidence a heathy diversity of practices, with two of the artists residing outside Ireland. After a presentation at St. Patrick’s Festival, the showcase launched on 4 July 2019 as part of the PhotoIreland Festival, at The Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland, in Dublin with the following projects: Aisling McCoy, and live the space of a door, Cian Burke, Rectangular Universe, Dorje de Burgh, Dream the End, George Voronov, …And Also With You, Jamin Keogh, A Constant Parameter, Phelim Hoey, La Machine, Robert Ellis, Proverbs, Roisin White, Lay Her Down Upon Her Back,Sarah Flynn, Uinse, Zoe Hamill, A Map Without Words.