Island Talk 17
12th February 2025
Talk 1 - Yvette Monahan
Yvette Monahan discussed The Clean Blue of Linen, new work about the regenerative process of flax growing on Mallon Farm, Co. Tyrone. We Feed The UK, a national storytelling campaign connecting photographers and poets, has commissioned this work to raise public awareness of positive solutions to climate change, wildlife recovery, and social justice.
Yvette is an Irish research-based photographer and artist. Her art practice delves into the intangible aspects of external and internal landscapes and reflects on the delicate balance of nature and its human impact.
Yvette's work has been exhibited extensively since graduating with an MFA in Photography in 2013. The many exhibitions and publications include TULCA, Winter Papers, PhotoIreland, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast Exposed, Unseen Amsterdam, Fotohof Salzburg, and Lishui Festival, China. She has been nominated three times for the Prix Pictet.
Since 2021, Yvette has been the Photography curator for the Cairde Sligo Arts Festival. She was a Lecturer in Photography at Ulster University from 2021 to 2023.
Yvette holds an MFA in Photography (2013) from the Ulster University, Belfast, and an MA in Geography and Economics (1999) from Trinity College Dublin. In 2020, she completed a diploma in Art and Design at National College of Art and Design.
Talk 2 - Richard Gilligan
Richard talked about his new exhibition/book, The First Draft which opens in Draiocht in February. The First Draft is an artistic homecoming, bringing internationally influenced work back to the roots of my creative journey and offers a contemplative look at the themes of belonging, identity and coming of age in suburbia. The exhibition revisits early projects created around Blanchardstown which are presented as non-sequential vignettes exploring the complex relationship we often hold with the places that shape us.
Rich Gilligan is a photographer from Dublin, Ireland. He began his work making his own zines as a teenager and then went on to work as a skateboard photographer for a variety of publications worldwide. He now shoots a wide range of commissioned projects while continuing to pursue his own personal work. Until recently Rich was based in New York, but in 2021 he relocated to Wicklow where he continues to work on projects both in & out of Ireland. Previous photographic publications include Time/Line (Self Published) 2008, DIY (1980 Editions) 2012, Rituals (AAD) 2014, Burnside (Driftwood) 2014, DIY (Prestel) 2014, Town (The Salvage Press) 2018 and All Sorts Of Impossible Things (Driftwood Editions) 2022. His work has been published in iD, T Magazine, The New York Times, Vogue, Port, The New Yorker, Source & Time.
TALK 3 - Mike Garner
Imagination and the image
People often talk about the difference between “taking” a photograph and “making a photograph”. In this talk Mike Garner, one of Ireland’s most respected advertising creatives talked about the process of creating photographic images from the imagination. Featuring photographic work from Kevin Griffin, Gary Moore and Liam Murphy.
Mike Garner was founder of Ireland’s leading creative agency Chemistry as well as spending time as Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy, Core and Connelly Partners. During the course of his career Mike has won a vast number of awards at Cannes, D&AD, The One Show and ICAD, and the Effies.
