Untitled, from the series Dublin, 1963
Alen MacWeeney
Alen MacWeeney, Untitled, from the series Dublin, 1963
About the Artist:
Alen MacWeeney (b. 1939) is an internationally renowned photographer, currently based in New York. At 16, he was given his first job as a press photographer at The Irish Times. Richard Avedon later hired MacWeeney and brought him to work in both his NYC and Paris studios. MacWeeney soon became impatient with the limitations of studio photography. He traded in his 120 camera for a new 35mm Leica, and began honing his skills in street photography. In this period, he pursued personal projects, creating dark, expressive, and empathetic images of the people and landscapes of Ireland, including a ground-breaking series on Travellers. MacWeeney’s archive was recently acquired by University College Cork. His works are featured in the permanent collections of many prominent museums such as MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago and others.
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 42x59.4cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
About the book
In September 1962 Irish photographer Alen MacWeeney returned to Dublin from a year in New York, working for the acclaimed photographer Richard Avedon. Equipped with a 35mm Leica camera, he went onto the streets of the city to engage with life directly as he saw it. Almost 60 years later, during the pandemic lockdowns and isolation of 2020, that we all experienced, MacWeeney’s photographs of Dublin 1963 were shared by his partner, Pesya, with a group of online Dubliners.
The result was a virtual explosion. An instantaneous torrent of observations, comments and opinions filled the screen. As more photographs were posted, the online community scrutinised every incidental detail. Responses bristled with Dublin humour. The people and locations that MacWeeney had captured were recognised and disputed. Discussions and recollections drew in multiple participants, the online exchanges eliciting wonder, incredulity, nostalgia, warmth – and sometimes anger. This previously unseen series of photographs had come to life again in the unexpected confinement of a pandemic to grace a multitude of new lives through a bond of shared interest and humanity.
Now all photographs in the series have been published with a selection of these online comments by the community in a book by Alen MacWeeney entitled, My Dublin 1963, My Dubliners 2020. The book is about the power of photography in creating a conversation that unites the community, and transports the viewer back to another life. It is local history. It is about life in a Dublin of the past being brought back into the present in 2020 by today’s Dubliners, “straight from the horse’s mouth”.
For MacWeeney, “Reading the reaction of Dubliners in lockdown to seeing the people or places they knew as children, – mothers and fathers, relations and friends, coming or going to work, playing in the streets, or on a date, waiting for the bus, or just being there as I was at the time, was electrifying; a pure joy to read their responses.”
The Alen MacWeeney Archive is held by University College Cork.
About the National Photography Collection:
The National Photography Collection builds on the Gallery’s sustained commitment to supporting artists in the development and promotion of their work. Through collaboration, we hope to grow the collection as an archive repository offering an overview of photographic practice in Ireland.
As an essential critical and historical resource, the National Photography Collection is an exciting initiative for the Gallery and for the future of Irish photography. We are deeply honoured that the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins has agreed to be Patron of the Collection.
The artists featured in the Collection are:
Ciarán Óg Arnold; Enda Bowe; Noel Bowler; Ala Buisir; Simon Burch; Dorje de Burgh; Krass Clement; Shia Conlon; Martin Cregg; Mark Curran; Ciaran Dunbar; John Duncan; Tessy Ehiguese; David Farrell; Kevin Fox; Paul Gaffney; Clare Gallagher; Emer Gillespie; Karl Grimes; Anthony Haughey; Seán Hillen; Patrick Hogan; Tobi Isaac-Irein; Dragana Jurišić; Jamin Keogh; Jialin Long; Markéta Luskačová; Shane Lynam; Alen MacWeeney; Dara McGrath; Moira McIver; Yvette Monahan; Tony Murray; Brian Newman; Kate Nolan; Miriam O'Connor; Kenneth O'Halloran; Mandy O'Neill; Tony O'Shea; Pete Smyth; Nigel Swann; Harry Thuillier Jr; George Voronov and Róisín White.