A World Looted, 2021

This suite of Joly screen photographs was commissioned for the 2021 PhotoIreland Festival. “A World Looted” concentrates on the contested area of global fruit production, referencing corporate branded fruit controversies. The work addresses moments where the free flow of food was disrupted by revelations about their production, rekindling memories of imperial and colonial working conditions and histories, all connected to specific branded corporates.

The technique uses the Joly screen photography, a method of colour photography developed in the 1890s by John Joly, a physics professor at Trinity College Dublin. It is an additive colour method, with a striped red, green and blue (RGB) colour screen placed in front of the film in-camera on exposure and then again on display. Colour information is recorded on black and white film and rendered as a colour image when the screen and film are put together. The film is processed into a positive and so what is displayed is the film that was in the camera, not a print or reproduction. Over the past year further experiments have added layers resulting in dense images of stripes, colour, and photographic fragments. This also allows for issues around post-appropriation by referencing existing images and locating or placing the process along and into a different historical context and timeline.

“A World Looted” was be premiered in the main exhibition of the PhotoIreland Festival “Bite the Hand That Feeds You” in Rathfarnham Castle 5 July-2 August, 2021

See also a short text I wrote for Totally Dublin