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Belfast Exposed: Challenging the Media's Representation of a City's Conflict Through Art and

clairemeadows
Mar 2, 2016
5 min read

Art is a way of expressing oneself, and the world surrounding us. It can form

people’s perceptions of the world and encourage change within the lives we lead.

With this knowledge, a group of local photographers from Belfast founded the

gallery Belfast Exposed in 1983. At this time, Northern Ireland was in the midst

of “The Troubles”, a period from 1968-1998. Art and photography became a

form of challenging the media’s representation of the city’s conflict; it gave

Northern Ireland a voice, and a way to cope with the struggles impacting

everyday life.

The artwork shown in Belfast Exposed today continues to reflect socially

engaged ideologies, while continually responding to contemporary currents

occurring within photography and politics beyond Belfast.

The Curator of Belfast Exposed speaks to Clare Callaghan about the current

exhibition on show at the moment.

Ciara Hickey studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and completed

her Masters at NCAD Dublin. Before her position at Belfast Exposed, she worked

at Ormeau Baths Gallery and also ran a gallery from her home called Space

Delawab. This unique gallery allowed her to interact with artists within her

house, holding exhibitions, performances and residencies; often blurring the line

between what was art and what was domestic normality.

Belfast Exposed is a leading gallery in Northern Ireland for contemporary

photography. How do you see your role as a curator and the influence you

have on contemporary photography in Belfast?

There are two thought processes in Belfast Exposed, one is to recognise the work

carried out by Northern Irish photographers, or people who are making work in

Northern Ireland. The other is to expose those who live here to the best of

international contemporary photography. We can be quite isolated from cities

such as London or Glasgow, so we have the responsibility to show the leading

photographers and the contemporary currents of photography to a Belfast

audience.

In the past year we have been running solo shows by international artists in the

gallery downstairs, and we have been exhibited solos shows by local, early

career artists in the upstairs gallery.

Can you tell us a bit about the exhibition on at Belfast Exposed at the

moment, Bertien van Manen’s - ‘Beyond Maps and Atlases’?

The exhibition on at the moment is called ‘Beyond Maps and Atlases’ by a Dutch

artist named Bertien van Manen. I have been a massive fan of her work and when

I contacted her she told me how she was interested in creating a project about

Ireland. The timing was very fortuitous because it became a commission where

we were helping her to make this body of work.

Starting off as a fashion photographer, Bertien van Manen sites the influence of Robert Frank’s book The Americans, as an important moment in her career, she loved the directness and closeness of how he made photographs. She began taking journeys where she would photograph communities and families, essentially strangers, spending two or three weeks at a time with them. This is how she made this project in Ireland. What appeals to me about her work is the honesty within her images. She portrays these incidental moments of everyday life, and through photography these moments become really important, momentous occasions where you see truth in humanity, and truth in relationships. You see these universal uniting features of human beings.

The exhibition reflects on how Irish literature informed van Manen’s

project. How do you think this literature influenced the way she

photographed?

It can be quite disarming to watch her work as she works quite quickly and

spontaneously. It is very much based on intuition and it is about chance

encounters. She has a very light touch when she photographs, there is an ease

about it. She described it herself, she uses very unobtrusive cameras so she can

work without intimidating, and put people at ease. She almost feels as if she is a

friend who is interested in photography, as opposed to a photographer.

Her work, similar to a lot of literature, is about atmosphere and the mood of a

place. This is apparent in the body of work she has made in Ireland, it is quite

heavy and is very elemental. There is certain darkness to her work, which is

clearly referential to Irish literature. The dark undercurrents allude to quiet, yet

very poetic desperation.

What do you say to people who look at Bertien van Manen’s work and

thinks its not ‘art’ because of her snapshot style of photography?

There was recently an article on this exhibition in the Guardian by Sean O’Hagan,

and he writes a lot about the mood and the atmosphere she conjures; it is quite

poetically written. In the comments section of the Guardian some people are

outraged, thinking they could do better, or they could make similar photographs.

Bertien van Manen has shown in Stedelijk, she is in the collection of MOMA;

she is a big name in photography! I have used these types of comments from the article in group critiques to show what the perception still is on photography; and what some people believe photography ‘should’ still be. Contemporary photography is so far removed from the old frame of mind, of setting up a shot and having a perfectly composed image. There is still value to those images but I think photography is so expansive as a medium and for an artist to push the boundaries of what that is, is essential. It is being true to your art form and true to your vision. She has a very unique voice in photography and she is being very authentic to that voice.

How would you describe your approach to curating and what are you

looking for in when you are curating a new exhibition?

The best part of my job is working with artists, I become very inspired by the

artists I work with. For me it is important to have a close relationship with an

artist. It is important to support and encourage by being available and being a

part of the development of the work.

There are definitely key themes I am drawn to. In particular, with my

background, I am interested in domestic spaces and how people view spaces. I

am interested in how people shape and create spaces and create narratives

within those spaces.

What does Belfast Exposed have planned for the next exhibition?

The next exhibition is an Austrian photographer named Peter Dressler whose