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Close to Home, University of Ulster MFA Graduate Show
This showing of new work by graduates of Ireland’s first MFA Photography marks an exciting development in Irish art. The ten photographers present work that perceptively explores themes close to home, eschewing the dramatic and exotic for the familiar and overlooked. They show us the depth of experience – landscapes, conversations, histories and activities – that lies hidden in everyday life. Their fresh perspectives on the subject matter make this show an insightful look into the future of Irish photography.

The photographers exhibiting are: Christine Redmond, Laura Curran, Tim Doak, Laurie Campbell, Anne McColough, Bo Gort, Anthony Rush, Anne Cassidy, Gavin Devine, Robert Ellis and Clare Gallagher.

About the photographers

Anthony Rush, is a photographer based in Belfast, a native of Omagh, Co.Tyrone. He received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 2001 and became a MFA graduate in Photography at the University this year. His themes are based around and informed by issues that explore the notion of space and in particular for this body of work Michel Foucaults brief, and intriguing essay “Heterotopia”.

Info

Opening: 1 July, 6pm
Dates: 2- 7 July
Opening hours:
Mon to Sun 11am-6pm

South Studios Gallery
27/28 New Row South
Dublin 8
www.mfaphotobelfast.com

Location Map

Anne McCullough has a BA Honours degree in Art and Design. She has recently completed an MFA in Photography at the University of Ulster, Belfast. She currently runs her own photography business, Whiteline Photography and is continuing on her project, ‘Dark Light’.

Clare Gallagher (b. 1978, Northern Ireland) studied in London, Kent and Belfast, earning an MFA photography with distinction and is a lecturer. Her work is concerned with everyday life – the ordinary activities, states of mind and conditions of existence that fill time outside the moments of drama and spectacle.

Laura Curran is a recent graduate of the MFA Photography course at the University of Ulster. With previous success in obtaining the Conor Kieghtly Photography Award for her BA Hons project titled The Road Not Taken, shown in last years PhotoIreland Festival ,”the thing that bruises you”. This project titled Dear Corrina, is work made in response to her friend’s death in 2009, acting as a catharsis for those words never said, opening up that connection to her once again and creating a conversation between her friends and family about their fears and anxieties about their own mortality.

Gavin Devine has recently graduated from the University of Ulster with an MFA in Photography.  Taking inspiration from his own journey in discovering his sexuality Gavin has completed a body of work, entitled ‘I am another’, which explores the coming out experiences of other men who identify themselves as homosexual.  Most material dealing with homosexuality casts coming out as a camp, funny, sexual and/or political experience and usually ignores the fact that many gay men question their sexuality as young as 12 years old.  As can be imagined, the question can be over consuming and it is this that the artist wishes to explore. Through portraiture and interviews, Gavin’s work aims to show the struggle, journey and outcome gay men face when coming to terms with their sexuality, starting with when they first considered that they may be homosexual.

Tim Doak. Interested in considering how photography might be used as a tool to visually expand an understanding of the story of faith, Tim Doak makes work which helps to expose the viewer ‘to the ideas of religion, […] what it feels like to believe that religion.
www.timdoak.me.uk

Christine Redmond has recently completed an MFA in Photography at the University of Ulster, Belfast. She teaches photography on a Portfolio Preparation Course in Sallynoggin College of Further Education. She is also a curator and has worked in the past with photographers such as Victor Sloan, Paul Seawright, Clare Langan and Ivor Prickett. She is currently working on a number of projects.

Bo Gort, Born in Holland, living in Ireland. Fascinated by all things human.

Anne Cassidy (Northern Ireland) has a Royal Photographic Society Fellowship, an Irish Photographic Federation Fellowship, and is an Artist of the Federation Internationale de I’Art Photographique. She is a current judge for the Royal Photographic Society’s Licentiateship Distinctions, and a National lecturer and judge. Anne obtained her MFA photography working in traditional black and white images.

Robert Ellis (b 1984, Dublin) is a graduate of MFA Photography in University of Ulster Belfast. His photography, which has been exhibited in Ireland and abroad, deals with the notion of “home”. Often working with small communities, the photographs rely on inherent or local knowledge to inform a sense of place.
www.robertellis.eu

Laurie Campbell is a recent MFA graduate of the University of Ulster. Her work deals with left-over memory spaces in post-Soviet places. It is the situatedness of Soviet-era memory residua within the landscape that intrigues her. These appear increasingly at odds with the space they occupy, reinforcing their sense of placelessness.
www.lcimages.co.uk

Curators: Christine Redmond and Robert Ellis

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