Photographers set out to document their view of Ireland through images taken over five days.
Forty international photographers were invited to capture what they saw as the essence of Ireland over a period of five days.
Two of those taking part are Martin Parr and Gill Galvin. Their work, along with the other photographers, will be published in a book titled 'The Ireland Project'.
Liverpool based Martin Parr photographed suburban housing estates. He was attempting to address the lack of ordinary, everyday images in modern photography.
Martin Parr lived in Sligo for two and a half years and has published 'A Fair Day', his own photographic study of aspects of Irish life. After spending time here, he decided not to create images which perpetuated the myth of life in rural Ireland. Instead, his work has been captruing images from ordinary every day life. He has observed that previous photography books about Ireland have little or no connection with how people lead their lives. He purposely chose to photograph things that are not essentially Irish. He cites the case of supermarkets, which are part of the modern western world and photographing them in Ireland indicates contemporary consumer trends. His book is a social commentary on the two strands of Irish life, from the American influence to the traditional Irish.
I was very interested in exploring that kind of clash in itself.
In hindsight, he believes his book presents an overly romantic vision of Ireland. His work for The Ireland Project hopes to address the way in which Ireland is represented.
Gill Galvin was born in Inchicore and emigrated to London at the age of fifteen. He got a job as a darkroom boy and eventually became a photographer in advertising. He has since moved into editorial photography, working for The Sunday Times, The Observer and a number of magazines. While he enjoys his work, he would rather be doing something socially useful and this is why he is taking part in 'The Ireland Project'.
I wanted to show the Ireland that I knew, the Ireland which was very similar to Dagenham.
As part of The Ireland Project, Gill Galvin set out to do portraits of ordinary working people from bookmakers, fishmongers and printers to a refuge for families.
The Ireland Project is the third in a series of photographic books after Los Angeles and London. Gill Galvin has worked on all three projects. He talks about the immersive nature of his work in Los Angeles, which he describes as funnies, as opposed to social. For the London book, he concentrated on the social issues facing the Irish in the city.
This episode of 'Slants' was broadcast on 27 October 1985. The reporter is Colm Ó Briain.
'Slants' was a series made by the media about the media and was presented by Richard Kearney, Eileen Magnier and Fintan O'Toole. It was first broadcast on 14 May 1985.
