a shimmer of possibility

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin Mon-Fri 11am-6pm (Thurs 11am-7pm), Sat 11am-4.45pm Until Sep 19 01-8961116

In the 1980s, Paul Graham made a landmark series of photographs of Northern Ireland, published in book form in 1986 as Troubled Land. Rather than following the conventions of photojournalism or any pictorial genre, Graham’s understated images show how the Troubles were tightly woven into the everyday urban and rural fabric of the North. Since that time he has worked a great deal in the US, among other places, and moved to New York in 2004.

As with Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places, Graham’s a shimmer of possibility are based on travels throughout the US with the aim of getting a sense of America as it really is.

For these photographs, Graham cites Chekov’s short stories as an influence. He sets out to place us right next to people as they go about their daily lives. The photographic artist, he wrote in 2010, strives “to pierce the opaque threshold of the now”, making visible what we scarcely notice.

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