Born in Dublin, Ireland 1958. Elected a member of the RHA in 2004, the first photographer elected as an Artist Member (The Royal Hibernian Academy is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823). Elected the first female photographer to Aosdána in 2006 (Aosdána, founded in 1981, honours artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the creative arts in Ireland). The Photographer Amelia Stein’s black and white photographs pursue character and the constituent elements that create them. Absence and the passage of time is a recurring theme. Described as a portrait photographer, her work is not confined to the figure or facial studies but the wider meaning of portraiture, from the conventional face to the breath of wider open landscapes, from small intimate details to the landscape on the grand scale . Though meticulously composed in the camera her practice gives equal emphasis to the subtleties of the darkroom and meticulous attention to detail in printing. Work is represented in the collections of The National Gallery of Ireland, IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art ), the Arts Council of Ireland and has been on view in solo and group shows in both Public and Private venues to the present day. Formerly as a performing arts photographer, Stein worked in Theatre and Opera in Ireland, 1979-2000.