Mr Ulster
The media’s role in peacebuilding: none of its business?
by Allan LEONARD
9 June 2021
So is peacebuilding none of the media’s business? That was a conclusion that broadcaster and journalist, Declan Harvey, posed to a panel of fellow journalists and writers at an online webinar delivered through Belfast City Council’s PEACE IV Programme, which is funded through the EU and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
Disinformation in a pandemic: sharing fact checkers’ experiences
23 March 2021
As part of the Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics, editors from three fact-checking organisations across these isles shared their experiences of work during the pandemic — Claire Milne (Full Fact), Christine Bohan (TheJournal.ie), and Allan Leonard (FactCheckNI). The event was hosted by Ciaran Hanna from InsideIreland.ie.
Documenting natural connections through photography
by Allan LEONARD
10 April 2021
Melanie Law, who has just joined the Eve Blair Show on BBC Radio Ulster, interviewed Christopher Barr and me for her inaugural feature (at 26:00). The discussion was on photography and a competition that Belfast Exposed is hosting, in conjunction with Translink and Arts & Business Northern Ireland. Christopher and I shared experiences as a teacher and student, respectively.
I spoke about how I began my coursework at Belfast Exposed with a one-day course on street photography, armed with nothing more than an iPhone. Law asked me how the lockdown brought about by the pandemic has affected my style. I replied that that is a fascinating irony, as street photography can thrive in the hustle and bustle of urban life. But it’s just a different story that you’re telling.
I gave an example of going out on my government encouraged/sanctioned exercise permission, when I would venture out on my bicycle. A camera eye is always present, and I would make images of what I would find visually compelling, like a section of mesh wire fence adorned with medals hung in praise of the efforts of the NHS.
Likewise, Christopher spoke about a fellow student, a doctor at the Ulster Hospital, Tuck Goh, who photographed the pandemic as it unfolded in hospital environments: “You see this work and you’re just mesmerised by it. It is just beautiful.”
The pandemic has been such a major event for everyone. Once, whilst running past two people, I heard one woman say to the other, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to cope with this.” Christopher explained how the teaching at Belfast Exposed has adapted the perspectives of wellbeing and resilience, encouraging participants to start by photographing someone that brings them joy, to anchor such thoughts.
The idea behind the Natural Connections photography project is to document, visually, what you find as a natural connection — the link between nature and connecting in the last year. Just tag your images on social media with #naturalconnections2021 up until 22nd April.
Appropriate and accessible storytelling in museums and heritage sites
by Allan LEONARD
26 March 2021
During an Imagine! Festival event, academics and practitioners shared their knowledge and experiences of the use of storytelling in museum and heritage site environments, as a means of evoking emotion in appropriate and accessible ways.
Book review: Irish Summers (Harry GRUYAERT)
by Allan LEONARD
21 March 2021
Harry Gruyaert’s work is recognisable by its saturated colours of thoughtfully chosen hues. The interplay with light is also crucial. There are images in Irish Summers that exemplify such decisive moments, when colour and light come together to satisfy Gruyaert’s quest for sensual beauty in the otherwise banal.
Book review: Old Ireland in Colour
by Allan LEONARD
14 March 2021
Old Ireland in Colour is an ongoing project of colourising black and white images by photographers in Ireland in the late 19th to early 20th century. The catalyst was John Breslin working on colourising some photos of his grandparents, when he discovered an automated system called DeOldify. He looked for more images to colourise, starting with old photographs of NUI Galway, then the Galway/Connemara area, and then of Ireland as a whole.
Book review: New Ways of Seeing (Grant SCOTT)
by Allan LEONARD
21 February 2021
We read books of fiction and non-fiction, and may acquire a respect for how difficult it is to create such works ourselves. We are taught how to read the written word, and by practising reading, tend to appreciate its transformative power. The novel we re-read. The poem that lifts our spirits. The biography that provokes empathy. We call it literacy — to communicate effectively and make sense of the world.
Book review: A Pocket History of Northern Ireland (Richard KILLEEN)
by Allan LEONARD
29 December 2020
Occasionally I am approached for an image to be used in a book publication. Recently, this was for one that I made of a mural celebrating the television series, Derry Girls. Disclosure: I granted permission, with payment, for the image in A Pocket History of Northern Ireland, by Richard Killeen and published by Gill Books.
Overcoming closed borders: opening up fact-checking solutions
Interview with Giovanni ZAGNI (Director, Pagella Politica)
by Allan LEONARD
24 November 2020
“I haven’t seen some of my colleagues in six months,” remarked Giovanni Zagni, director of Pagella Politica, based in Milan. Conducting this interview via Zoom was a salutary reminder of unprecedented times in which we are living — never before have so many people globally have had to attempt to conduct their work, commerce, research, and collaboration remotely. Fact checkers may be more accustomed to applying their digital skills from anywhere — online access permitting — but remote camaraderie is a new phenomenon.
Book review: How I Make Photographs by Joel MEYEROWITZ
by Allan LEONARD
18 October 2020
Joel Meyerowitz is a renowned street photographer, long before the term became a familiar recognised genre (or subgenre of documentary photography). Once working as an art director, after an encounter with photographer Robert Frank, he quit his job and set out with a Pentax camera. Meyerowitz is known for his recording of street life in his native New York City, covering a span of several decades.
A passion for social justice: Tribute to Anne MOORE
by Allan LEONARD
8 August 2020
Anne Moore will be remembered for her passion for social justice. I met Anne during my employment as a policy officer for the Alliance Party as I sought out the views of a valued stakeholder, NICVA, where she served as public affairs officer. Anne and I had plenty of enjoyable conversations and discussions on official as well as unofficial business matters—we would frequently diverge to global and philosophical perspectives.
Altered Context: A New Parameters project
by Allan LEONARD
20 July 2020
New Parameters was an online engagement project, with participants creating images of their responses to the arrival and presence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. The Nerve Centre hosted collaboration, through video calls and the online platform, Slack. The following is my submission, named “Altered Context”. I am very thankful to the project’s organisers, for facilitating a forum for visual thinking and a place to make new acquaintances and friends.