Aoife Shanahan
Aoife Shanahan received her MFA in Photography from the Belfast School of Art (2018). Her work is driven by a strong interest in camera-less photography. She creates unique images, often utilising labour-intensive techniques stemming from the 19th century origins of photography. Her experimental approach towards traditional analogue materials allows her to explore their expressive possibilities and to question their contemporary relevance in a digital era.
Her project OXYgen is a series of unique photograms made from the drug Oxycontin®, a strong narcotic and the prime suspect in the current opioid crisis. She questions the nature of photographic representation and attempts to devise an alternate approach of communication that challenges and probes traditional modes of viewing. This work explores how abstraction and reality can combine to become an extremely powerful tool, with the ability to communicate context and politics.
Her work has been exhibited internationally. Recent exhibition venues include The Royal Hibernian Academy, Green on Red Gallery, The Centre for Fine Art Photography (Colorado) and The Griffin Museum of Photography (Boston). She was the recipient of the 2016 RHA Curtin O’Donoghue Emerging Photographic Artist Award.
Aoife lives and works in Dublin.
EXHIBITIONS WITH THE GREEN ON RED GALLERY:
New Beginnings: Jun 28 – Aug 17 2018
A Fine Line: 8 April - 13 May 2016
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 BioTrace, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE 2022 OXYgen, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, UK
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Silent City, The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, IE , Second Sun, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE , Photofairs Shanghai, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China , Art Singapore, Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore 2022 On the History and Practice of Photography in Ireland, Dublin Castle, Dublin, IE 2021 Picturing People, The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, IE , World, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE 2020 Vienna Contemporary 2020, Marx Halle, Vienna, AU , Under the Sun, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE , Remote Joy, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE 2019 Pallas Periodical #9, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, IE, Selected by Sèan Kissane, Curator of Exhibitions at IMMA. , Vue, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, IE , New Works, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE , 2018 Centre Forward 2018, The Centre for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, US, Juror: Hamidah Glasgow, Director of the Centre For Fine Art Photography and Kris , Graves , New Beginnings, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE , Parallel, Artcetera Studio, Belfast, UK , Co-incident, MFA Graduation Show, Belfast School of Art, Belfast, UK 2017 136th Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy, Ulster Museum, Belfast, UK , 15:1, Regional Cultural Centre, Donegal, IE 2016 How to Flatten a Mountain, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, IE , Night, The Centre for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, US, Juror: Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York , A Fine Line, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, IE , 186th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, IE 2015 Illuminate, The Centre for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, US, Juror: Elizabeth Avedon, Curator and Artist , Black and White, PhotoPlace, Gallery, Middlebury, VT, US, Juror: Tillman Crane, Curator and Artist , Greetings from Ireland, The Library Project, Temple Bar, Dublin, IE , Windows, Mirrors and Doors, Photo Place Gallery, Middlebury, VT, US, Juror: Seth Curcio, Curator and Artist , On The Street Where you Live, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT, US, Juror: James Blair, Artist and Writer , Black and White: The Living Tradition, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, HU 2014 Winter Solstice, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, US , Poetics of Light, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR, US , City, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, HU , Black and White, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR, US , Your Work Here 2.0, Photographic Resource Centre, Boston University, Boston, MA, US , Industrialized, Kadoya Gallery, Pueblo, CO, US , Graduate Exhibition, Garner Centre for Photographic Exhibitions, Boston, MA, US , Black and White, The Centre for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, US, Juror: Jason Landry, Artist and Writer , Downtown, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, US, Juror: Peter Liepke, Curator and Artist , NESOP Black and White, Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA, US 2013 Photorama, Boston Centre for the Arts, Boston, MA, US, Juror: Paula Tognarelli, Director of Griffin Museum of Photography
Collections
The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
The State Art Collection, The OPW, Ireland
The David Kronn Collection, USA / IMMA Ireland
Private Collections in Ireland, Europe and USA
Invited Lectures and Presentations
2023 Artist Talk, ‘In Conversation with Dr David Kronn’, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin. Ireland 2021 Artist Talk, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Selected Publications
The Guardian, Matt Fidler, “Hanging in there and a dichroic shopper: Photofairs Shanghai 2024 –
in pictures”, April 2024.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/apr/26/photofairs-shanghai-2024-
highlights-in-pictures
Sunday Business Post , Philip Nolan, “Meet the Artist” June 17th, 2023.
The Visual Artists’ News Sheet , Jonathan Brennan, “Aoife Shanahan, OXYgen”, Issue 3, May-June
2022.
European Photography Art Magazine, “Sixteen Shades of Gray”, Issue 110, Volume 42, Winter
2021.
Photomonitor, “OXYgen” https://photomonitor.co.uk/portfolio/oxygen/ May 21st 2021
Irish Arts Review, Stephanie McBride, “Within the Shadows”, Issue 1, Volume 37, Spring 2020
Elin Spring, “Who Said It?” www.elinspringphotography.com/blog/hintlian-franson-shanahan-
photograph-hazy-hot-humid/
August 19th 2015
F-Stop Magazine, Issue 69, Black and White Exhibition
http://www.fstopmagazine.com/pastissues/69/groupexhibition.html, February 2015
Don’t Take Pictures, “City Life”, www.donttakepictures.com/city-life/, November 26th 2014
Residencies
2016 How to Flatten a Mountain, The Cow House Studio, Wexford, IE
Private Commissions
Bristol Myers Squibb, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland
MORE INFORMATION:
For more information or purchase enquiries contact the gallery.
LINKS:
www.aoifeshanahanphoto.com
https://www.instagram.com/aoife1shanahan/