Programme » Exhibition

I Like Boring Things

Dorje de Burgh, Tansy Cowley, David Morrissey, Samuel Cunnane, Kate Nevin, Anna J. McCormack, Edmund Doherty

The Centre for Creative Practices

1st July, 6:00 pm - 6th July, 6:00 pm

Opening night is 1st July 7 at 9pm
I Like Boring Things is an exhibition by seven contemporary photographers exploring themes of fear and fragility, the melancholy of change and loss, alienation, the everyday, memory, solitude, and the intimacy of fleeting moments in modern society.

The exhibition title makes playful reference to photography’s fascination with the everydayness of our existence and the automatic appropriation of importence to what the photographer points their camera at.

Dorje de Burgh
Dorje de Burgh’s work is currently concerned with the personal document - the examination and appropriation of the everyday in an attempt to explore the modern world, its metropolises and the stories contained within. Specific projects within this overview have included a series of portraits examining immigrant labour entitled ‘kitchen’, a dystopian study of a number of nameless cities entitled ‘metropolis’ and ‘immer’, a personal exploration of loss and reconciliation. His most recent work, ‘things fall apart’ is an experiential document which attempts to communicate, via the study of a group of close friends, the melancholy of change and loss as true adulthood is finally confronted.

Tansy Cowley
Cowley’s practise arises from a desire to illuminate, phenomenologically, an everyday experience of the world around her. The ephemeral nature of her photographs reflects this constant flux of existence while providing a method of catharsis both personally and for the spectator.
Flat Death comes in the wake of a traumatic event, exploring an emotional state of fear, vulnerability and social fragility.
“I was interested in Photography only for ‘sentimental’ reasons; I wanted to explore it not as a question (a theme) but as a wound: I see, I feel, hence I notice, I observe, and I think.” – Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida.

David Morrissey
The sheer volume of imagery these days has caused people to become accustomed to photography without questioning or considering its properties. I hope to create an unaltered version of reality infused with elements which will entice a second look.

Kate Nevin - ‘Granny’s House’
This work was born out of the anxiety felt at the impending loss of a loved one. It was an attempt to cope with the loss not only of a beloved Grandmother but of the world we inhabited together, a world of love, joy, laughter, magic, creativity, comfort and safety. I tried to preserve a bit of this world through photography by photographing the surface of our world in the hopes that in the future I would find her there.

Samuel Cunnane
It could be said, in fact, that what I often deal with in my work is outsiders. But I don’t think I mean outsiders in the traditional sense. I am speaking of feeling outside of a street, of a family, of a room, or of one’s very self. What I am interested in is how people stake their claim and what it is from their past or their memories that weighs upon them and holds them and their presence to the ground. And how the past can both be the anchor that saves them and the very thing that drowns them in the end.

Anna J. McCormack - ‘Perfect Tension’
This work by Anna J. McCormack is an intimate study of light and atmosphere. The title Perfect Tension immediately raises the question of whether this has been, or can ever be achieved. Is the moment preceding “perfect” tension all that can be experienced? Is the moment of heightened awareness immediately preceeding the ideal the farthest we can get in our search for beauty? The pictures suggest that it is the smallest, quietest moments in life that are most resoudning. The various locations and subjects within the frame nod to a synchronicity and similarity with and between all that surrounds us. McCormack focuses on the moments in life that move slowly in your heart, but last for just a second in time. The collective nature of the work proposes that it is what is not tangible that is most powerful. It is the glimpse of peace and total serentiy that keeps us quietly hungry for more. Reflective, peaceful and exploratory: the tranquility of McCormack’s photographs implies that it is the precious, fleeting moments in life that are emotionally eternal.

Edmund Doherty
‘Pretty lonely, pretty fast’
This piece of work is currently a work-in-progress based on St. Paul’s Boxing Club in Waterford City. Through a traditional documentary standpoint the photographer tries to actively engage and accurately reflect the heavy silences, solitude, exertive, yet almost passive nature of the sport, observed from the training ground.

Curated by Tansy Cowley

Tansy Cowley is due to begin her 4th year of the BA Hons Photography degree course at IADT Dun Laoghaire in September. In 2009 she was the key co-ordinator of the Canon-sponsored IADT 2nd Year group exhibition entitled ‘The Invisible City’, successfully launched in The Joinery, Arbour Hill, attended by over 500 people.

For more info contact info@photoireland.com

Follow PhotoIreland

Event info

The Centre for Creative Practices
15 Lower Pembroke Street (basement), Dublin 2

Phone +353 1 7995416
Web http://www.cfcp.ie/
Opening hours Daily 11.30am-7pm
Dates 1st July, 6:00 pm - 6th July, 6:00 pm
Price FREE

Next event

Programme » Exhibition

I Like Boring Things

Event info

PhotoIreland

Programme 2010

On The Blog

Contact Us