A new exhibition of work by emerging photographic artists at Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery is set to share alternative viewpoints on Northern Ireland, as seen through a different lens.
'A Bigger Picture', presented by Belfast Photo Festival and the Northern Irish Art Network, invites visitors to view Northern Ireland through the underrepresented gaze of feminist and queer artists from the Belfast School of Art.
Exhibition curator Dr Clare Gallagher, a lecturer in photography at Ulster University’s explained that Northern Irish photography "has established itself internationally as having a distinct and recognisable sensibility."
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She continued: "However, it remains widely viewed as a masculine terrain, dominated by male voices.
"The images that define this place have been largely captured through the male gaze. What this exhibition offers is a countertext, an alternative perspective that addresses the omissions in representation, not only in Northern Irish photography, but in the narrative of what it means to be from here."
Delivered in association with Ulster Presents at Ulster University, the group exhibition presents highly nuanced and challenging perspectives on Northern Ireland. 'A Bigger Picture' is on display at Golden Thread Gallery until July 9.
Its opening marks the launch of this year’s Belfast Photo Festival programme - Northern Ireland’s premier visual arts festival running from June 2 to 30.
Under its theme The Verge, this year’s festival explores untold stories, underrepresented narratives and perspectives on the world that too often go unseen.
Clare Gormley, Head of Programmes & Partnerships at Belfast Photo Festival, said: “Celebrating photography that pushes against dominant social, cultural, historical and visual frameworks, this year’s festival features the work of artists who find themselves – both conceptually and aesthetically – on the verge of new territories.
"They bring forth new perspectives on the world we live in, the past we inherit and lead us to the verge of something altogether new."
The festival’s director Michael Weir added: “How fitting it is that the first exhibition to open our 2022 programme is by a collective of fifteen emerging artists through whose gaze we are offered a new perspective on Northern Ireland; a body of work that weaves a rich tapestry of love and loss, hope and struggle, bringing into focus people and place through a less seen, but powerful feminist and queer gaze.”
Among this year’s other highlights is Alternative Ulster, a new body of work by renowned Japanese artist Kensuke Koike which draws on the photographic archives of National Museums NI (NMNI) and the Public Records office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) to present an alternative vision of Northern Ireland’s past.
Set to be installed in the grounds of Queen’s University Belfast, the artist’s use of techniques including cutting, collaging and layering to rework the original images make surreal the historic depictions of Northern Ireland contained within two of our most historically important archives of photography.
Renowned for its creative presentations and animation of public spaces with captivating visual art, this year’s festival will once again stimulate curiosity and discussion with a range of open air exhibitions along Botanic Gardens, Queen's University Quad, Belfast City Quays, Belfast City Hall Lawn, Queen’s Island (adjacent Titanic Belfast) and Stormont Estate.
For more information on this year’s festival, visit belfastphotofestival.com and keep up to date on social media via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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