Transmitting photographic energy of colour and love: Hannah Starkey’s Northern Ireland peace women by Allan LEONARD 4 June 2023 As part of the Belfast Photo Festival and in partnership with the Ulster Museum, artist Hannah Starkey gave a talk about her previous work and current exhibition on display, Principled and Revolutionary: Northern Ireland’s Peace Women. … Continue reading Transmitting photographic energy of colour and love: Hannah Starkey’s Northern Ireland peace women
Citizens Wallpaper: a co-produced community visual story by Allan LEONARD 21 March 2023 Four “canvasses” of photographic images, covering the northern part of the island of Ireland, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Irish Sea, are part of an exhibition that was launched by Kellie Armstrong MLA in the Long Gallery at Parliament Buildings, Belfast. … Continue reading Citizens Wallpaper: a co-produced community visual story
Below is a selection of my images that appear in the book, What Northern Ireland Means to Me, published by Shared Future News.
"Attempts to reclaim resilience in order to imagine and build better futures should not be trivialized or dismissed, not least because urban resilience (and resilience thinking more broadly) has been (and continues to be) embraced by progressive institutions, community organizations, grassroots struggles, and oppositional campaigns. Given material hardships, it is not difficult to see why … Continue reading Portfolio — Shaking Up the City (Tom Slater)
Exposure therapy: Natural Connections exhibition by Allan LEONARD 17 June 2021 Belfast Exposed launched its exhibition, “Natural Connections”, which showcases 60 shortlisted images, from over 1,400 received. The competition ran earlier this year, asking people to submit images that represented connections with nature, which “sustained, surrounded, supported, and encouraged people and communities” during the pandemic. … Continue reading Exposure therapy: Natural Connections exhibition
Book review — World Press Photo 2021 by Allan LEONARD 26 June 2021 World Press Photo 2021 is a book compilation of finalists of its annual competition. Entries are submitted by professional visual journalists. There were nine juries across the photo and digital storytelling contests. For the 2021 contest, general jury chair, Nayantara Gurury Kakshapati, … Continue reading Book review — World Press Photo 2021
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 … Continue reading Documenting natural connections through photography
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 … Continue reading Book review — Irish Summers (Harry Gruyaert)
Book review — Old Ireland in Colour (John Breslin & Sarah-Anne Buckley) 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 … Continue reading Book review — Old Ireland in Colour (John Breslin & Sarah-Anne Buckley)
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 … Continue reading Book review — New Ways of Seeing (Grant Scott)
Book review — How I Make Photographs ( 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 … Continue reading Book review — How I Make Photographs (Joel Meyerowitz)
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 … Continue reading Altered Context: A New Parameters project
