Changing States is the first major group exhibition to tackle the transformation of Ireland through photography. This August, Haus am Kleistpark showcases 34 lens-based artists who paint a picture of the first decades of the 21st century by focusing in on socio-political developments, ranging from different cultural identities to social reform. History is notoriously slippery and hard to visualise. This is a show that highlights how different photographic approaches are being used to retell these stories.
In Altar, a woman lies on a plain wooden table. Our eyes go the olive branch that sprouts from her rib. It grows towards the ceiling in a lush display of green leaves and ripe fruit, a stark contrast to the lifelessness of the human beneath. The scene is a visual metaphor for the ways in which Irish culture and religion have shifted in recent years. It is part of the Pauline Rowan’s series Under a Vaulted Sky (2018 – present), which centres on a deconsecrated convent that was built in 1806. After it was abandoned, the building fell into disrepair and its surrounding gardens grew wild over the years. Despite awaiting demolition, Rowan describes how the setting has since been “repurposed” by artists and tenants. She states: “It was as if those whom the convents would have strived to keep out were now inside. The place itself functioned as a home to many, and it seemed good space for them; a new community living in the remnants of an old.”
Also featured is Jackie Nickerson, who offers a psychological portrait of her coastal hometown, Louth. Ten Miles Round is fixed on rural landscapes and loved-ones. Seamus Murphy shares The Republic, a similar project but one that pans out to look at the whole country in order to preserve a visual record of “what had changed and what was not going to last forever.” Changing States is testament to the power that images hold – whether documentary or conceptual – to interrogate past, present and future.
Haus am Kleistpark, Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century | Until 11 August
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- Pauline Rowan, Altar, from the series Under a Vaulted Sky.
- Enda Bowe, Untitled, from the series Love’s Fire Song.
- Pauline Rowan, Altar, from the series Under a Vaulted Sky.
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