Ciarán Dunbar currently lives and works in Dundalk, Ireland. He gained a BA in Photography from the University of Ulster, Belfast, in 2013. Having escaped The Troubles in the 1980s, Dunbar’s parents, originally from the north of Ireland, settled in Dundalk. It is here, against the backdrop of this border town, that issues of identity, displacement and belonging have become the focus of Dunbar’s work to date. His project Diesel traces the illegal dumping of toxic waste material, commonly referred to as ‘sludge,’ by diesel launderers at sites along the Irish border between Counties Louth, Armagh and Down. Diesel laundering plants range in size and sophistication, laundering anywhere between 6 and 30 million litres of fuel per year.

His work has been featured in Photo Museum Ireland’s Ireland’s 5-year Reframing the Border programme exploring creative responses to the border, which culminated in a series of public art installations along the border marking the Centenary of Partition in 2021. He was awarded a Galleries Without Walls collaborative commission which culminated in a ground-breaking NFT programme organised by Photo Museum Ireland, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny and the Museum of Crypto Art.His photo book Diesel, was published with support from Photo Museum Ireland in 2023. His work is held in the National Photography Collection at Photo Museum Ireland.