Michael Nolan’s images of a present-day meitheal invoke much older notions of kinship and identity, writes Stephanie McBride of the photographer’s festival sketches.
Michael Nolan was The Irish Times 2013 Street Photographer of the Year. Yet it is the culture of the festival rather than everyday streets that he returns to in several photographic series.
Festivals represent a temporary suspension and transformation of everyday life and surroundings – a deliberate break with normal routine and convention. They can be religious pilgrimages, carnivals, harvest fairs, or even occasions to explore the repressed and forbidden. The subversive lure of the festival can be seen in everything from Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa to the idea of forbidden fruit in the modern festival branding by some drink companies.
Overcoming the slow down at home, Irish architects Heneghan Peng, Grafton Architects, O’Donnell+Tuomey amongst others have looked to international competitions, but overseas projects are not without risk, writes John McLaughlin
In addition to creating a likeness of her daughter, Geraldine O’Neill has in mind the age-old interrogation of representation, writes Robert Ballagh of this year’s recipient of the Ireland-U.S. Council/Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award
James Watson could trace his family’s artistic lineage to York Minster and following his move to Cork he launched a new tradition to last a hundred years, writes Vera Ryan.