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Seán Hillen
Seán Hillen (b. 1961, Newry) is an artist living and working in Dublin. He studied at Belfast College of Art, the London College of Printing and at the Slade School. His 1980s photo- collage works, based on his own documentary photographs mixed with tourist, toy packaging and fantasy material were at different times highly praised and heavily censored. The original black and white photographs have since been acquired as a permanent collection by the National Library of Ireland, and published as Melancholy Witness by The History Press.
The gently post-apocalyptic and visionary IRELANTIS series begun after he moved back to Ireland was published in 1999 with an introduction by Fintan O’Toole. Newry Gagarin Crosses the Border was inspired by the artist’s sense of personal connection with the cosmonaut (Hillen was born within hours of Gagarin’s historic venture into space) and his love of puns and wordplay.
Hillen’s work is in many private and public collections, including the Imperial War Museum. Tomorrow is Saturday an award-winning film documentary about Hillen’s life and work was broadcast on RTÉ in 2021.
Artist Information
Newry Gagarin Crosses the Border, 1993
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Sen Hillen, Newry Gagarin Crosses the Border, 1993
Seán Hillen, Newry Gagarin Crosses the Border, 1993
Details: Digital reproduction of photo-collage incorporating original photograph, archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 50x70cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
Irelantis
Irelantis
About Irelantis:
“The Irelantis pictures began I think partly as a joke about whether Ireland was ‘civilised’, a sort of development from the ‘noble / savage’ jokes. I was originally toying with calling them ‘Ancient Monuments In Ireland’, and moving monuments from around the world into Irish landscapes. Then I hit on the Irelantis word, which while it has a bit of anxiety about it, also is a licence for delightful imaginings.They’re also I suppose about the place of any place in the World, and about the idea that Irishness was perhaps a state of mind- I also remember being in my kitchen in London and hearing on the radio the song called “If We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here”, with a line that went “…if only Sydney Harbour opened onto Galway Bay. There’s often some disaster or catastrophe in progress, but also an odd calmness while people go about their normal business or look on curiously.They also, I hope, have a far more ‘visionary’ and hopeful aspect; a sense of immanence, of the magical and spritual aspects of reality leaking out into public spectacle.I hope you enjoy seeing them. “