Irish Photo Exhibition in Kansas City
A few weeks ago the Irish photogrpaher Fionán O’Connell contacted me to let me know that he had a show of his photographs coming up in Kansas City in September at The Hilliard Gallery.
The Hilliard took their time in posting the details but they’re up now. The show titled, No Place Like Home - New Transatlantic Visions by Fionán opens tomorrow, First Friday, September 4th 2009 6-10 pm and it runs through September 24th 2009.
Fionán’s photographs are urban ones, a celebration of the details and shapes that make up city life. Expect to see coloured segments of walls and doors that are flag-like in their final composition; road surfaces with shadows or wayward markings; reflections in windows; peeling posters, gates, and fascias; blurred shopfronts with mannequins; and often a glimpse of a bicycle.
Actually I’m biased, because the hint of bicycle that you may see is likely to be Fionán’s, and anybody who cycles around taking photos of Dublin is fine by me. And of course taking photos of details of Dublin is something I like to do myself.
Fans of traditional Irish music, and let’s pretend you are, may have seen some of Fionán’s work before. The cover of the re-release of the early 1990s Never Learned To Dance by Robbie O’Connell features a wonderful photo by Fionán that includes a window, mannequins, and a bicycle. The name isn’t a coincidence as Robbie isn’t just a Clancy Brother nephew, and indeed member of that most archetypal of Irish ballad group, he’s also Fionán’s cousin.
Fionán did tell me that his show is very much part of the Kansas City Irish Festival, but the only reference I’ve noticed in any of the festival’s publicity was a suggestion a couple of days ago to consider stopping at the show on your way to the festival. All the way back in April Robbie O’Connell, a man whose show is at the festival, said No Place Like Home - New Transatlantic Visions was going to be part of the festival, but please don’t bother me with clarifications now; because it’s not your strong point, and it’s very late in the day.
It is First Friday though, so if you’re out and about at the exhibitions in the Crossroads, this is one to have on your list. And after Labor Day weekend you still have the guts of 3 weeks to visit.
The Hilliard Gallery is located at 404 E 18th Street, Kansas City. Regular hours are 10am-5pm on Tues-Fri, and 11am-4pm on Saturdays.
Just remember you can expect to see no freckle-faced redhead children playing with a rope and an old cardboard box in some inner city slum, because Fionán is leaving that to other photographers.
Online
Fionan O’Connell
Hillary Gallery
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
I love Ireland. I don’t live there but have had some wonderful holidays near Shannon - even the names are beautiful although I didn’t like the town of Limerick much. Killalooe on the river is lovely . . . I wish I was there now!
As you’re a robber you might be interested in my new series of crime thrillers. Cut Short is out now as the first, so please take a look. Book 2 in the series, due out early 2010, features a gang of robbers - so I’d be very interested in your feedback!
Leigh - I’m a robber? You might have your blogs mixed up.
To be honest this post is about Fionán O’Connell’s photographs of Ireland, and that is in no way related to your series of crime thrillers -so really if you want to tell me about something you think is relevant to this site, contact me and I’ll be happy to post about it. I let your comment through this time because I suspect you made a mistake.
I do wish you luck with Cut Short though.
Please see the Comment Policy for more information.
Would you mind linking to: [link to blog removed]
Unrelated Website - Yes I would mind linking to your site. Because you left your request as a comment on this post and your request has nothing whatsoever to do with Fionán O’Connell’s photographs - which this post is about. Apart from being comment spam, that’s plain bad manners. And that’s the reason I removed your link, your blogname, and your actual name.
Would you mind reading the previous comment I left on this post?
Would you mind reading the comment policy?
Would you mind not spamming Ireland’s blogs?