Artist
Emilia Rigaud
Emilia Rigaud (b. 1997) is a photographic artist who reflects on the fragility of life through analogue photography and small-scale installations. She strives to find the ethereal in the everyday, creating photographs in which time ceases to exist for a small moment – before inexorably disappearing to the past. A student of Photography at the Irish Institute for Art, Design and Technology in Dublin, Rigaud is currently following exchange studies in Finland at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Her images have been published in various publications and photo festivals, including PhotoIreland Festival, Emerge Magazine, District Magazine, PhotoIreland New Normal and PhotoVogue.
Instagram: motherofoats
Fluid
As bodies of water, we are all in this together, but we are not all the same. Water, the basis of life, constitutes over 80% of the human body; about the same percentage of the earth’s surface. Water connects us with all organic and inorganic matter on the planet, in constant circulation. The concept of hydrofeminism sets out a mutual connection – not only between people – but also between other bodies of water, including other organisms, rivers and global circulation systems. The idea insists that we relinquish any lingering illusion of nature as separate from culture, or of humans as separate from the world around us. In turn, it raises questions of ethics – concerning our relationship to planetary waters in crisis.
Water is an embodiment of environmental materiality, it is a planetary habitat and boundary, giving life to us all. There is a direct link from a watery womb to a watery world. Descriptions and definitions of waters are primarily feminine and maternal. In the French language, the word for sea (mer) and mother (mère) is pronounced the same way. Water is a life-giving liquid to all species. These fluid challenges ask us to reimagine water – and thus reimagine our own bodies, and the connections between them.
Using traditional and sustainable photographic printing techniques, Aindreas Scholz highlights issues of the climate crisis, focusing particularly on the effects of human activity. In The Vanishing Point, for instance, Scholz addresses plants that risk vanishing from extinction by experimenting with unfixed lumen prints. His practice is informed by historical and legendary texts and tales, and by referring to these narratives, he weaves engaging storytelling into visually enticing pieces.
Recent graduate Emilia Rigaud presents her ongoing work Fluid. Her at times ghostly and otherworldly creations serve as a sensitive visual account of her investigation into ‘hydrofeminism’ and our connection to water. Alluding to environmental concerns, Rigaud underlines that caring for water is caring for us. Her visual style presents work that occupies a dimension between the seemingly mythical, editorial, and at times documentary traditions too.
Making work inspired by highly personal circumstances, Phelim Hoey and Ryan Allen both address experiences relating to multiple sclerosis (MS), albeit adopting different approaches. Phelim Hoey – whom PhotoIreland has followed excitedly since his nomination to its triennial talent programme in 2019 – investigates the condition from direct experience, utilising multidisciplinary methods to expose the precariousness and unpredictability of his own body, reclaiming control and confidence over himself in the process.
Ryan Allen, meanwhile, is a new graduate, selected for PhotoIreland’s 2022 RADAR Graduate Residency. There is a lot of potential and determination in Allen’s work, and we feel he represents a movement towards the personal with a compassionate and empathetic tone. In his selected project, FathoM, Allen provides a visual response to his fears over the body’s transience, having witnessed the process of MS in his mother.
Also on the path of care, Niamh Barry is a photographer engaging with queer communities in Ireland through her personal projects in a warm and tender manner. We were first introduced to Barry’s work through No Queer Apologies – a project tinged with gentleness while also calling for solidarity and action – and it immediately captivated our attention. Her latest project, brought to FUTURES, Now and Forever, Interpersonally Queer, presents tender images which highlight the chosen families that are so important within the queer community.