Themba & Them, Dublin, 2021
Tobi Isaac-Irein
Tobi Isaac-rein, Themba & Them, Dublin, 2021
About the Artist:
Tobi Isaac-Irein was born in Ibadan, Nigeria and came to Dublin when he was six years old. A photographer and digital artist, he uses a combination of photography and photoshop to tell stories and convey the world around him as he sees it. Tobi has worked in film production and also with many music labels. His artwork has been published in magazine and online media platform Slight Motif. In 2020 he was awarded a Creative Ireland & Dublin City Council Diversity Commission. For this Public Art Commission curated by Gallery of Photography Ireland and presented in 2021, Tobi drew on his own creative community to focus on the stories that artists, originally from the African Diaspora, experience when growing up in Ireland. The work explores how this new generation of artists have integrated their traditional upbringing, beliefs and ideas into Irish culture, and how this process has culminated in a hybrid cultural identity that is shaping their creative output and that of the wider community.
Details: Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Baryta, 42x59.4cm (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.