Paul Seawright

File:Afghan5.jpg

Seawright's Valley, taken in Afghanistan in 2002.

Paul Seawright (born 1965) is a Northern Irish artist. He lives in his birthplace of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is professor of photography and head of Belfast School of Art at the University of Ulster in Belfast.

Life and work

Seawright gained an art foundation at Ulster University, Belfast; a BA (Hons) in Photography, Film and Video from West Surrey College of Art and Design, where his tutors included Paul Graham and Martin Parr; and a PhD from the University of Wales.

He is best known for his early work from his home city of Belfast, particularly the series Sectarian Murder, 1988. In this series, he photographed the sites of sectarian murders around Belfast, and paired the images with newspaper reports from the period. By removing reference to the victim's religion, he depoliticised the violence, focusing on the extensive civilian losses in the Northern Irish "troubles" (more than two thirds of deaths between 1969 and the ceasefires of 1994 were civilian). He was also the first editor of the Belfast-based photography magazine Source.

More recently, he has made photographs in post-war Afghanistan, urban Africa (Invisible Cities) and America. In 2002, he travelled to Afghanistan, having been commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, London, to respond to the September 11 attacks and the subsequent war against the Taliban. His photographs of minefields and battle sites have been exhibited internationally and are in numerous public collections.

Seawright is professor of photography at the University of Ulster, and was formerly Dean of Newport School of Art, Media and Design at the University of Wales, Newport, United Kingdom. He is a Council member of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Vice President of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts.

In 2005, the Fotomuseum Antwerp exhibited a major survey exhibition of his work with accompanying catalogue Field Notes.

Publications

Publications by Seawright

• Death: Selected by Dawn Ades et al. ISBN 0907074332. Cambridge Darkroom Gallery / Kettles Yard Gallery, 1988.
• Valokuvataide Arkitaide. Helsinki, 1989.
• Shocks to the System. Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1993.
• The Orange Order. Belfast: Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 1993.
• Nervous Landscapes. Southeast Museum of Photography, FL, 1994.
• Inside Information. London: The Photographers' Gallery, London, 1995.
• L'Imaginaire Irlandais. Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1996.
• Residential. Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 1997.
• Constructing Identity. (The Missing), Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, 1997.
• Paul Seawright. Salamanca, Spain: Salamanca University, 2000.
• The Map. Catalogue of public art project, SDCC. Edition of 22000 copies.
• The Forest. Gotenberg, Sweden: Hasselblad Centre; London: Shoreditch Bienale, 2001.
• Hidden. London: Imperial War Museum / Bangor Museum of Modern Art, 2003.
• Maintenant: Now. Vincent Levois, Le Mois de la Photo, 2003.
• Gestes, Le Printemps de Septembre Toulouse. Actes Sud, 2003.
• Landscape of War. Centre d'Art la Panera, Spain, 2004.
• Field Notes. Antwerp: Fotomuseum Antwerp, 2005.
• Invisible Cities. Cardiff: Ffotogallery, 2007. ISBN 978-1872771694. Edited by Christopher Coppock, essay by John Reader and an interview with the artist by Russell Roberts. Edition of 1000 copies.
• Volunteer. Artist Photo Books, 2013. ISBN 978-0992748517.

Publications with contributions by Seawright

• Documentary Dilemmas. The British Council, London, 1993.
• The Gap Show - Critical Art from Great Britain. Dortmund, Germany: Museum Ostwall.
• Irish Art Now, From the Poetic to the Political. Merrell Holberton Publishers, 1999.
• Tokyo Photo Bienniale Catalogue. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1999.
• British Art Show 5. Catalogu. National Touring Exhibitions (Hayward Gallery), 2000. ISBN 978-1853322044.
• Further: Artists from Wales at the Venice Bienniale.. Merrell, 2003.
• Re-Imagining Ireland: Irish Art Today. University of Virginia Art Museum, J Hartz.
• So Now Then. Cardiff: Ffotogalery/HPF, 2006. Edited by Seawright and C. Coppock.

Collections

3

Awards

• 2001: Personal chair by the University of Wales.
• Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
• Fellow of the The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), London.

Notable exhibitions

2

See also

• List of Northern Irish artists

External links

• Official website
• Paul Seawright, biography, bibliography, works at Sies + Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf
• Paul Seawright at the Kerlin Gallery
• Irish Museum of Modern Art
• Wales at the 50th Bienalle of Art
• Rena Bransten Gallery
• Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
• Photography Now
• University of Ulster, School of Art & Design
• Newport School of Art, Media and Design