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Paul Gaffney
Paul Gaffney‘s work is concerned with investigating different ways of experiencing and representing landscapes. Drawing on Arnold Berleant’s theory of a ‘participatory approach’ to landscape, in which the artist, environment and viewer are considered to be in continuous dialogue with each other, his practice proposes to communicate an experience of immersion in nature. Gaffney holds an MFA in Photography from the University of Ulster in Belfast, and a Diploma in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales, Newport.
He was selected for the Arts Council’s ‘Next Generation Bursary Award’ 2016-17. He has been nominated for both the Prix Pictet and Deutsche Borse prizes by Photo Museum Ireland. His acclaimed photobook, We Make the Path by Walking, focused on the idea of long distance walking as a form of meditation. His second publication Stray was photographed by night in a dense Irish forest during an artist residency in 2014, and his latest project Perigee was made in the Ardennes in Luxembourg under the light of the full moon.
His books have been nominated for the Photobook Award at the International Photobook Festival Kassel (2013 & 2016), shortlisted for the European Publishers Award for Photography, and selected for ‘Best Photobooks of The Year’ lists. His work has been presented as solo exhibitions at the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (Luxembourg), Flowers Gallery (London), Gallery of Photography Ireland, Belfast Exposed Gallery, Ffotogallery (Cardiff), Oliver Sears Gallery and in group shows and festivals in the US, UK, South Africa, Ireland, Italy, France and China.
His work has been purchased for the National Photography Collection at Photo Museum Ireland.
Artist Information
Untitled #10, from the series Stray, 2016
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Paul Gaffney, Untitled #10, from the series Stray, 2016
Paul Gaffney, Untitled #10, from the series Stray, 2016
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 42×59.4cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
Paul Gaffney's Book
Perigee by Paul Gaffney
About the book
Walking through the Luxembourgish Ardennes, Gaffney documented his wanderings using polaroids. Later, he re-explored certain routes after nightfall, to photograph under the light of the full moon.
Bathed in its soft otherworldly glow, the forest’s narrow steep valleys evoke a mysterious, psychological wilderness, in what is in reality, a highly managed man-made environment.
“Drawn with light that is barely perceptible to the eye, Gaffney’s photographs emerge out of intuition, coincidence, and an underlying longing for connection and stillness. And although it’s tempting to call them landscapes, they are created through different ways of knowing a place – ways that acknowledge the moving, feeling body, rather than the distanced and distancing eye, as the foundation of our experience.”
Eugenie Shinkle
Perigee is a set of two photobooks in an edition of 750 copies.
Book 1:
Tri-tone printed on Mohawk Superfine uncoated paper
25 polaroid images on 68 pages
Japanese fold binding
Magnetic white vinyl cover
153mm x 203mm
Book 2:
Printed with UV inks on Lessebo uncoated paper
12 colour images on 24 pages
Handmade lay-flat binding
Ferrous metal cover
230mm x 305mm
Published in association with the CNA, Luxembourg.
Artists Exhibitions
Group Exhibition
PROGRAMME
In Our Own Image
Group Exhibition
PROGRAMME