Untitled, from the series The Second Shift, 2019
Clare Gallagher
Clare Gallagher, Untitled, from the series The Second Shift, 2019
About the Artist:
Clare Gallagher is a Northern Irish artist whose work focuses on the ordinary, everyday experiences of home. Clare lectures on the BA, MFA and PhD programmes at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. She is also an academic researcher and completed a PhD using photography and video to research the hidden work of home and family. Clare is a member of the Northern Irish Art Network and is on the board of the Belfast Photo Festival. She has written for Visual Artists Ireland, the British Journal of Photography and contributed a chapter for Stephen Bull’s book A Companion to Photography. Her book The Second Shift was named as one of The Guardian’s top 15 photobooks of 2019. Recent solo exhibitions include the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, and Belfast Exposed Gallery Belfast. Her work was featured and supported by Gallery of Photography Ireland through their A Woman’s Work Creative Europe 5-partner project that showcases womens’ practice through artistic collaboration and exchange across borders, and the co-production of exhibitions, publications and online resources that challenge the dominant view of gender and industry in Europe.
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 70x80cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
About the book
‘The Second Shift is the term given to the hidden shift of housework and childcare primarily carried out by women on top of their paid employment. It is physical, mental and emotional labour which demands effort, skill and time but is unpaid, unaccounted for, unequally distributed and largely unrecognised.
Hidden in plain sight and veiled by familiarity and insignificance, the second shift is largely absent from photographs of home and
family. This work is an attempt to recognise the complexity and value of this invisible work. It is a call for resistance to the capitalist, patriarchal and aesthetic systems which ignore it.’ CG
Winner of Backlight & Jelgavas Tipografija Book Award Self Published, Signed, Edition of 500, 64 pages, 170 x 235 mm. Hardback.
About the National Photography Collection:
The National Photography Collection builds on the Gallery’s sustained commitment to supporting artists in the development and promotion of their work. Through collaboration, we hope to grow the collection as an archive repository offering an overview of photographic practice in Ireland.
As an essential critical and historical resource, the National Photography Collection is an exciting initiative for the Gallery and for the future of Irish photography. We are deeply honoured that the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins has agreed to be Patron of the Collection.
The artists featured in the Collection are:
Ciarán Óg Arnold; Enda Bowe; Noel Bowler; Ala Buisir; Simon Burch; Dorje de Burgh; Krass Clement; Shia Conlon; Martin Cregg; Mark Curran; Ciaran Dunbar; John Duncan; Tessy Ehiguese; David Farrell; Kevin Fox; Paul Gaffney; Clare Gallagher; Emer Gillespie; Karl Grimes; Anthony Haughey; Seán Hillen; Patrick Hogan; Tobi Isaac-Irein; Dragana Jurišić; Jamin Keogh; Jialin Long; Markéta Luskačová; Shane Lynam; Alen MacWeeney; Dara McGrath; Moira McIver; Yvette Monahan; Tony Murray; Brian Newman; Kate Nolan; Miriam O'Connor; Kenneth O'Halloran; Mandy O'Neill; Tony O'Shea; Pete Smyth; Nigel Swann; Harry Thuillier Jr; George Voronov and Róisín White.