Cahans Presbyterian Meeting House, Co. Monaghan, from the series The Borderlands, ongoing
Nigel Swann
Nigel Swann, Cahans Presbyterian Meeting House, Co. Monaghan, from the series The Borderlands, ongoing
About the Artist:
Nigel Swann (b. 1962) studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, graduating in 1985 with a BA in Fine Art Mixed Media. He subsequently worked in photography based industries in London and elsewhere. Swann completed his Photographic Masters in Fine Art at the University of Ulster in 2019. Swann’s project The Borderlands surveys an intriguing location, known locally as ‘The Black Pig’s Dyke’, a 2000-year- old boundary that runs parallel to the present-day Irish / UK border. After Brexit, it now shadows another border, that of
the European Union and the UK. After independence in 1922 and in particular, during the ‘Troubles’ the border was visible and instrumental in defining identities. Since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 travelling along and across this border there have been no physical expressions, no watchtowers, fences or walls, it is unseeable, it is a virtual psychological construct. The ancient dark physicality of the Black Pig’s Dyke alongside the architectural clarity of the disused Cahans Presbyterian Meeting House in the border county of Monaghan act as a conceptual starting point for this inquiry into the border.
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 50x70cm (paper size), uneditioned print, produced 2021, acquired for the National Photography Collection 2022.
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.