Early Career Artists Awards 2024 - 2025

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.

Meet Our Artists

Early Career Artist Winners

Evanna Devine

Graduating with a First-Class Honours degree in Photography from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT). Evanna Devine is a young Irish artist from Belfast. Her work is driven by a keen focus on socially engaged projects. She holds an important and natural talent for documenting stories within the North. After working for two years with a total of twenty-five women who lost children in tragic circumstances during The Conflict, Evanna determined early in her career that she had a talent for working with people and telling important stories that often remain forgotten. Currently working with the youth centres of Newry town, Evanna Devine’s portraiture continues to offer a contemplation of the inherited complexities of class, Irish heritage, and identity.

Roisin Lambert

Roisin Lambert is a photographic artist from Co. Wicklow. Through the camera she examines the relationship between human and land. She seeks to find meaning in the ancient inheritance of place within a contemporary state of being. With both intuitive and considered frames, her work is occupied by a landscape layered in myth and narrative, to know that which is sequestered within the ever-shifting soil. Her work explores the tensions between light and dark, real and surreal, that which is conjured by dark and found by light.

Conn McCarrick

Conn McCarrick is an emerging Irish artist and recent graduate of Griffith College Dublin. His work focuses on the experience of queer young people in Ireland and draws from his background in campaigning for social and political rights. Conn is a former Chairperson of the National Youth Parliament and recently served as the Irish Youth Delegate to the United Nations. To date, Conn has exhibited his work in Ireland, the UK and the USA. During his time at university, Conn developed a unique style that blends analogue, fine-art and documentary photography. Conn is a member of the Douglas Hyde Gallery Student Forum and MART studios in Harold’s Cross.

Artist Supports

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.

two curators looking at documents
Over the course of the programme the three selected artists will receive:

The Early Career Artist Awards programme is designed to nurture emerging talent in the field of photography. Participants receive invaluable guidance and resources to develop their artistic practice.

Critical Feedback

Artists benefit from regular critical feedback sessions with Photo Museum Ireland curators and guest mentors to help develop a new body of work.

Professional Workshops

Specialist workshops are available to support artists in their professional development, covering a range of topics essential for career growth.

Networking Opportunities

Participants gain access to networking events, connecting them with key figures in the photography and cultural sectors.

Access to Production Facilities

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

Promotion

Artists benefit from promotion of their work across the Museum’s website and social media.

Exhibition Inclusion

The programme culminates in an exhibition at Photo Museum Ireland, showcasing the artists’ work to a wider audience.

Guest Selectors

Cale Garrido

Curator, Editor and Photo Editor

Mary Conlon

Director of The Dock, Leitrim

Guest Selectors

Jeremy Howard

Director of the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny

Artist Testimonials

“This programme gives that bridge to the real world. A tentative baby step towards being a practising artist. So now, outside of the safe confines of a college, I’ve produced the body of work independently, self-motivated, and shown it to a wider community in a distinguished space.”

– Spencer Glover, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

 

“It has given me a sense of courage to be able to do new things and work in new ways that I hadn’t before. Taking older methodologies I use and applying them in new ways that gave me confidence to work using materials that I hadn’t used before.

It also gave me a stronger direction in what I want to do in my career. I found the final exhibition to be extremely beneficial in that it legitimised the work we did over the year. It was a definitive outcome that gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.”

– Luke Ryan, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

“The resources and support that made the greatest impact were the guidance and the mentorship. That opportunity to have someone available to me that I could bounce ideas off, who could look objectively at the work and suggest things. As we moved out of the safety net of the college environment, having that outlet for ideas, for missteps and encouragement was very valuable.“

– Spencer Glover, Emerging Photographer on the Early Career Artist Residency

Support Emerging Artists Today

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

Your contribution helps nurture the next generation of photographic talent. By supporting Photo Museum Ireland, you empower young artists to create impactful work and share their unique stories. Join us in fostering creativity and innovation in contemporary photography. Together, we can make a difference.

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