Upcoming Exhibition
Steve Pyke
Scribendi: Irish Writers – 1982-2025
9 November - 2 November 2025
Encompassing over 70 individual portraits, this important series is a visual testament to the diversity and vitality of contemporary Irish literature. Sadly, some of the subjects featured in this collection have passed away, adding a layer of historical significance to Pyke’s work.
A beautifully produced hardback photobook will accompany the exhibition, published by Lilliput Press in partnership with Photo Museum Ireland. Printed sustainably, the publication will feature over 70 portraits, complemented by selected texts.
“The faces of these writers can bring to others something of the feeling and way of thinking behind their words. I soon realised I had created a collection of around seventy portraits representative of the depth, variety and vitality of Irish writing at the present time. I felt it was important to bring them together in an exhibition and book in which each portrait would be accompanied by a page of text to bring the writer closer still.” –Steve Pyke
The development of this work has been supported by an Artist’s Residency at Photo Museum Ireland.
Events/Workshops
Tour
Guided Tour
1:00 pm to
Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Photo Museum Ireland
Joining one of our guided tours is a great way to get to know our exhibitions in more detail. Our experienced guides are extremely knowledgeable about photography in general, and each exhibition in particular. Tours are free of charge, although booking is required.
Cost : Free
Steve Pyke is a renowned photographer known for his intimate and intense black-and-white portraits of extraordinary thinkers, creators, and artists of our time. Pyke created his first photographs in Ireland in 1980 and has maintained a deep, ongoing association with a place central to the development of his artistic practice. Widely hailed as a classic landmark‘photographic novel’ I Could Read the Sky, created with the writer Timothy O’Grady was first published in 1997. In 2024 it was reissued in a new, expanded edition by Unbound.
Pyke has spent the last 40 years seeing the world through a creative lens. Born in Leicester, UK, Pyke resided in London and NYC for many years. Steve now lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana and continues to work in Ireland and internationally. His work has been exhibited widely in the UK, Europe, Japan, Mexico and the US and is held in many permanent collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the V&A in London, New York Public Library and the Museum of Modern art (MOMA), New York. A selection of works from his I Could Read the Sky series was acquired in 2024 for the Photo Museum Ireland collection. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Photo Museum Ireland in 2025.