Island Talk 21
13th May 2026
Talk 1 - Clodagh O’Leary
Clodagh O’Leary’s practice is an exploration of Ireland, capturing the relationship between tradition and transformation. She was recently part of A R C H I P E L A G O, the largest group photography exhibition ever staged in the RHA, and a finalist for the AIB/NGI portrait prize and the Taylor Wessing Photo Prize. In March she represented Ireland in one of Frances’ largest photography festivals, Circulation(s). Her publications include two monographs published by TLP Editions in 2025. She is a founder member of the ÌOVA photography collective.
Who Fears To Speak explores how a post war society shapes the lives and identity of children and young people from The Bogside and Creggan in County Derry. The trauma accumulated during ‘The Troubles’ is not limited to those that directly experienced the war - the young people in the North born on or after the Good Friday Agreement are termed ‘Ceasefire Babies’. They have inherited the intergenerational trauma and socio-economic challenges of a post conflict society, and the violence they experience has evolved and taken a different, more internal form.
Talk 2 - Charlie Dineen
Charlie Dineen is a Dublin-based artist and film maker working primarily with multiformat analogue photography and film. His work spans abstract and conceptual approaches, street photography, documentary, and self-portraiture. Central to his practice is a deep belief in the enduring magic of analogue processes and the creative possibilities that are carried through an unbroken chain of light in the darkroom.
For over seven thousand years, pilgrims have travelled the sacred path from the holy well at The City in Shrone, County Kerry, to the peaks of The Paps of Anú. In The city Beneath Me Dineen stages a reactivation of these Druidic rituals on the barren windswept terrain of the Paps’ foothills and slopes. Returning to his ancestral home in dawn’s early light, his reimaginings honor disappearing traditions on well-trodden sacred paths and the summoning of the spirits of the ancestors who permeate the thin air between worlds on this holy ground.
Talk 3 - Evanna Devine
Evanna Devine is a photographer from Belfast. Her work is driven by a commitment to storytelling and community collaboration. Focusing on underrepresented voices, capturing narratives that engage with communities in meaningful and long-lasting ways. At the heart of her practice is a passion for collaboration and a drive to tell important stories that often go unheard. Through photographic portraiture, she strives to capture the complexities of ideas of class, Irish heritage and identity in contemporary Ireland.
Quiet Fighters is not just about boxing; it is about childhood, diverse cultures and the unwavering support that these young athletes receive from their coaches and mentors. Exploring the profound impact of a community-driven boxing club, Quiet Fighters seeks to capture the transformative power of boxing in fostering unity and providing a positive outlet and discipline for youth from both sides of the traditional divide and beyond.
