Pete Smith
Pete Smyth is a documentary photographer and social activist. One of Ireland’s leading documentary photographers, Smyth has lived and worked in the area for over 30 years. Over this period of time Smyth photographed aspects of life in his local community and has produced a uniquely intimate account of the place and its people.
His work was presented as a major retrospective exhibition curated by Gallery of Photography Ireland, which premiered at RUA RED Gallery, Tallaght in 2019. Pete continues to make work in his community in West Dublin. Smyth’s LOCAL exhibition and artist’s monograph brought together Smyth’s renowned portrait series Travellers and View from the Dearth, alongside his recent work charting street and nightlife in and around Tallaght.
Aware of the complexities of his dual role of observer and participant, Smyth’s close, personal engagement with his subjects is visible throughout the work. Smyth’s unsentimental representation of Tallaght and its people makes visible the social and physical transformation the area has undergone from a socially deprived outlying suburb to an urban centre with a strong sense of community.
Artist Information
Cushlawn Park, 1990 from the series LOCAL
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Pete Smyth, Cushlawn Park, 1990 from the series LOCAL
Pete Smith, Cushlawn Park, 1990 from the series LOCAL
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 50x70cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
Pete Smith's Book
LOCAL by Pete Smith
About the book
Gallery of Photography Ireland is delighted to publish a retrospective book Local by photographer Pete Smyth featuring work from his extensive photography project documenting aspects of life in Tallaght, West Dublin.
LOCAL invites us into a forgotten corner of contemporary Ireland – Tallaght, on the periphery of Dublin – where Pete Smyth has lived and worked for over thirty years. Smyth’s uniquely intimate account captures the richness and humour of a community at the frontline of Ireland’s rapid modernisation. His approach is deeply affectionate, but without sentimentality, inviting us into private spaces, moments of quiet drama – and some wild nights in his local, the Killinarden House pub.
A bittersweet celebration of a community, and a soulful exploration of our universal need to belong. LOCAL adds a vital and previously neglected point of view to the canon of Irish photography.
Smyth is one of Ireland’s leading socially engaged photographers. He has lived and worked in the area for over 30 years. In that time a he has developed a uniquely intimate account of the place and its people. Aware of the complexities of his dual role of observer and participant, Smyth’s close, personal engagement with his subjects is visible throughout. The exhibition also reflects his political concerns and experiences as a community arts worker and social activist. Smyth’s unsentimental representation of Tallaght and its people makes visible the social and physical transformation the area has undergone from a socially deprived outlying suburb to an urban centre with a strong sense of community.