Renowned Photographer To Capture Offaly In 2015

By Justin Kelly

Internationally celebrated photographer Jackie Nickerson has been commissioned by Offaly County Council to photograph the county throughout 2015. She will create 200 images which will be published in a specially produced book, and her year documenting the county will culminate in an exhibition of some of the images.

Nickerson’s appointment follows an open call from Offaly County Council for proposals from photographers late last year, which saw applications come in from all over the country. Funded under the per cent for art scheme, this is a unique opportunity for both the photographer and the county. Offaly County Council Arts Officer Sinéad O’Reilly told InOffaly this week: “The intention was to commission a photographer to document what defines Offaly, creating something that will become an important social document in years to come. The outcomes of this project should have a lasting impact in the county as well as providing a nationally visible signature of Offaly.”

Jackie Nickerson

“We are living through a rapidly changing culture; already the Offaly of twenty five years ago seems very different. The technology, social practices, domestic customs and landscape we are familiar with today will seem dated or may have even died out by the time today’s toddlers are adults,” O’Reilly added.

Jackie Nickerson, who was recently commissioned by Time Magazine to document the Ebola fighters, is famed for creating “images that examine identity, and the physical and psychological condition of working within a specific environment,” an Offaly County Council statement read. Her photographs challenge conventional notions of making portraits and landscapes and offer a more engaged view of her subject, and in 2015 that subject will be the people and places of Co. Offaly.

Nickerson was born in Boston but now resides in Co. Louth, and she spoke this week of her “excitement about being awarded this commission in Co. Offaly.” The acclaimed photographer has had her work exhibited across the United States and Europe, including in Ireland at the Museum of Modern Art. Her work has also been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in Salzburg, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas, as well as exhibitions in Rome, Athens, San Francisco and New York.

The photographer spoke about her upcoming year in the county recently: “Offaly already has a strong sense of identity and is rich in history and tradition, but it is also a growing and changing community. Through working and consulting with the people of Offaly, I want to make a prestigious and significant publication that celebrates the county’s character and community spirit and that will serve as a social document for years to come.”

Those interested in meeting or working with Jackie Nickerson on her travels in Offaly over the next year have been invited to make contact through the Offaly County Council Arts Office at arts@offalycoco.ie or 057 9357400.