Photo Museum Ireland is delighted to announce the winners of our Early Career Artist Awards 2023-24.

The Photo Museum Ireland Early Career Artist Awards is a mentorship residency programme providing essential curatorial guidance and resources for the most promising photography graduates as they embark on their artistic careers. Over the course of this year-long programme the recipients will have an opportunity to create new work with ongoing support from our expert curatorial team and selected guest mentors.

Winners 2023-24

Dee Byrne (TU Dublin)

Patryk Gizicki (TU Dublin)

Spencer glover (Griffith College Dublin)

Winner Bios

Dee Byrne is an Irish photographic artist, currently based in Dublin. Her practice often explores themes relating to womanhood, the body and spiritual beliefs. Byrne’s visual narratives are constructed with a particular focus on the tactile nature of the photographic object and are often accompanied by text. She likes to bring a sense of intimacy to the forefront of my photographic process, emphasising the connection between the camera, the photographer, the subject and its audience.

Patryk Gizicki is a Dublin based photographer, originally from Poland and emigrating to Co, Mayo in his early years. Patryk’s practice is based mostly around the relationship between photography and personal experience. Patryk heavily involves analog photography in his image making process. Colour is a fundamental part of his style and having full control of the development process allows for vivid and honest photographs. Being present at every part of the image making process is something he prides himself in. Patryk’s artistic vision extends beyond the frame, as he crafts stories that touch upon themes of identity, home, and memories.

Spencer Glover was born and is now back living in Dublin, Ireland. He has lived in the UK, Italy, the US, and Middle East. Spencer had a career as a publisher before returning to his art practice. He has a Fine Art degree and post-grad qualification from NCAD in Dublin. Spencer's work is about photography itself - why we believe the camera never lies and the vernacular expectations within that. All his images are constructed truths, looking at the boundaries of photographic reality. The aim is to play with the assumptions of fact, fiction and fake, giving him the opportunity to weave in issues such as identity, race, nationality, and control.

Over the course of the programme the three selected artists will receive: 

• Regular critical feedback sessions with Photo Museum Ireland curators and guest mentors to help develop a new body of work

• Specialist workshops to support professional development 

• Networking opportunities within the wider photography and cultural sectors

• Access to production facilities at Photo Museum Ireland, including our state-of-the-art digital suite and fully serviced darkroom

• Promotion on the Museum’s social media

• An exhibition of their work in the Artists’ Project Space

Photo Museum Ireland is delighted to support and encourage the growth of new creative talent in Irish photography. We want the Early Career Artist Awards programme to empower the recipients in developing sustainable individual practices, making a significant contribution to the exciting future of photography in Ireland.

Guest Selectors for the Early Career Artist Awards 2023-24

Malcolm Dickson
Malcolm Dickson is a cultural producer and is the Director of Street Level Photoworks, a leading photography arts organisation in Scotland. He co-ordinates a gallery programme which embraces different genres of photography and this is extended through a network of local and regional venues, and through international partnerships. He oversees a programme of community collaborations and participatory photography projects shaped by local communities. Recent exhibitions have included solo shows by artists Moira McIver, Frank McElhinney, Colin Gray, Margaret Mitchell and Simon Murphy. Exchange residencies include those with the Northern Photographic Centre (Finland), Kaunas Gallery (Lithuania), and Artlink (Ireland). Street Level manage the Photography Networks in Scotland platform and is a member of Scotland’s Workshops, a network of artists production centres in Scotland. Recent writings have included an epilogue in the book ‘Photography of Protest and Community’ by Noni Stacey (Lund Humphries); and a chapter in the book ’The Artist as Explorer’ on the early photographic practice of pioneering Dutch media artist Madelon Hooykaas (Jap Sam Books). He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Dundee. 

Dragana Jurišić
Dragana Jurišić is an award winning artist with an international reputation. Her project, My Own Unknown, has been exhibited globally including Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin (2018); Centre Culturel Irlandaise, Paris (2017); Rawson Projects Gallery, New York (2016); and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (2016). Jurišić’s photobook and series, YU: The Lost Country, is world renowned and has been exhibited at Noorderlicht Photogallery, Groningen (2018); Organ Vida Festival, Zagreb (2017); RHA Gallery, Dublin (2014); and originally at Belfast Exposed (2013). She is in many collections including National Gallery Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin City Council. Her major work 100 Muses (2015) is in the public collection of the Arts Council of Ireland. Jurišić is an Assistant Professor at DCU since August 2019 . She is also Visiting Fellow at the University of South Wales (2018-2021) and an International Mentor at the MA in Photography – Photography Studies College, Melbourne, Australia.

Pauline Vermare
Pauline Vermare is a French photography historian and curator based in New York. She was previously the cultural director of Magnum Photos, New York, and a curator at the International Center of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the visual representation of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2022. She is the author of numerous interviews and essays on photography. Pauline Vermare grew up in France and in Japan, and has been working on several projects around the history of Japanese photography over the years.  She sits on the boards of the Saul Leiter Foundation and the Catherine Leroy Fund. 

With thanks to Ann Curran (TU Dublin), Martin Healy & Adrian Reilly (IADT), Donovan Wylie (University of Ulster), Sinead Murphy (Griffith College), Albert Walsh (Crawford College of Art and Design), Sarah Durcan (NCAD Media), and Lorraine Neeson (LSAD) for their assistance with nominations.

Banner image credit: Dee Byrne, Spencer Glover, and Patryk Gizicki

The Early Career Artist Awards are kindly supported by our Patron Programme.