DESCRIPTION:
i

By Eamonn Doyle

The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Opening & Book launch: 6pm Fri 14th March

Exhibition run: 12th -- 23rd March 2014 / 11am -- 6pm

The Saint Patrick's festival present the exhibition and book launch of Eamonn Doyle's 'i' photographic project. This will be a preview of a more comprehensive exhibition which will go on tour around Ireland and Europe later in the year.

The limited edition book 'i ' will be available to purchase for the duration of the exhibition at a special reduced rate before it goes on general release in April.


The Exhibition

Eamonn Doyle has been photographing his fellow Dubliners in the Dublin 1 area since the early '90s and has developed a unique style and approach to his craft. This is street portraiture, but these are portraits like no others. For a start, the subjects are usually in motion and, far from being posed, most seem unaware they are even being photographed. The photos are also taken at close range, and from a dramatic angle which, given that many of the subjects are elderly, may feel to the casual viewer like a "mugger's eye view". But while such an approach might be expected to result in intrusive or antagonistic images, the very opposite turns out to be the case. The images are respectful, reverent, almost in awe of the mysterious figures they depict.

History and biography are literally kept out of the picture. But rather than plunging us into darkness, the process of suspending or "bracketing" context, actually illuminates and intensifies the moments depicted. Doyle's images give us mere fragments of their subjects' narratives -- not enough to comprehend them, much less to pass judgement -- but enough to inspire surprisingly powerful feelings such as kinship and compassion. His photographs remind us that every life has weight and drama, even if its meaning is ultimately elusive.


The Book

The limited edition book 'i ' will be available to purchase for the duration of the exhibition at a special reduced rate before it goes on general release in April.

A casebound, cloth covered book at approximately 34 x 22 cm, portrait.

80 pages, 64 printed full colour using high-resolution hybrid screening on velvet art book paper.

The book is designed and produced by Niall Sweeney and Nigel Truswell at Pony Ltd, with printing by MM Artbookprinting, Luxembourg, and binding by Van Waarden, Netherlands — a production combination that has produced some of the best quality art books in recent years, with clients including MoMA New York, IMMA, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, White Cube, Hayward Publishing, Whitechapel Art Gallery and The Henry Moore Foundation.


Artist Biography

Eamonn Doyle graduated with a Diploma in Photography from IADT in 1991. Although he has worked as a commercial photographer since 1995, he spent much of the past twenty years working in the independent music business, founding the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF) alongside the highly respected record label D1 Recordings.

He returned to photography in 2008, employing a 10x8 view camera and 35mm rangefinder cameras. His book State Visit was self-published in 2012 to commemorate the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland. His current photobook project, i, which draws its inspiration from the works of Samuel Beckett will be published in March 2014.

Most of his work is produced in and around the city centre location in which he has lived for the past 20 years. www.eamonndoyle.ie