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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Sean O’Hagan

The big picture: a luminous Sinéad O’Connor in one of her early shoots

Contact sheet of 48 black and white portraits of  Sinéad O’Connor, 1988
Sinéad O’Connor, 1988. Photographs: Andrew Catlin Photograph: Andrew Catlin

This grid of 48 black and white photographs comprises the entirety of the four rolls of film that Andrew Catlin shot of a young Sinéad O’Connor in 1988 following the release of her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. O’Connor was just 21 years old and the session was one of the first photoshoots she had ever done.

“The photographs were taken in natural light at the kitchen table of my flat in Maida Vale, with Sinéad facing the window and me sitting with my back to it,” Catlin recalls. “It was the first time we met, although it turned out that she had just moved into a flat a few floors above me. We chatted over a cup of tea and continued chatting throughout the shoot. There was minimal instruction from me.”

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