Paul Seawright

February 11, 2011 Paul Seawright presentation of some of his works
Studied at UCA the yr after Anna Fox
Teaches at the University of Belfast

Clive Limpkin "the Battle of Bogside"

• Discussing the book in his sons history class - that is a bad place for it he says
• The imagery was typical of work being done in Northern Ireland at the time

Pauls work tries to deal with conflict photography in a different manner

• showed Roger Fenton from Crimea 'Valley of Shadow of Death'
• the cannon balls represent the dead
• it is similar to one of Paul's photos where there are shells from modern wars littering the battle field

*Weapons and Technology change but war and the scene is still the same*
He has spent his career finding strategies in response to wars and new ways to image them
'Pig in the Middle'- Typical images you got at the time
Pauls photos are different but still evoke conflict
his images are his narrative and personal to him

the social landscape of Northern Ireland
'Troubled Land' paul graham

• Initially Seawright was annoyed by this work
• admits it was powerful and inluential to him

'windows and mirrors'

• he grew up protestant
• met catholics for the first time in Farnham
• In book removed reference to protestant or catholic to bring back the human nature to it
• the images don't reference any specific religion instead they show it as human nature

[I wonder what his thoughts on religion and god are]
'Joel Sternfeld' a landscape of a place in LA- for his photo to function you have to know what happened there (Rodney King was beaten there)
It is the same reason we have plaques telling us about history in places we visit

'Orange Order Work'
Photo journalists latch onto someone and tell their story. He wanted to make images that stood alone

'Inside Information'

• photos that stood for conflict not policing
• things could innocent but represented in a way that they aren't (this is deliberate to create the narrative)

'Conflicting Account'

• commissioned
• struggled due to being gone so long

'The missing'

• about missing persons
• photographed similar to the police work

When it comes to commissioning he often turns it down

One place he was told was safe during the day but not at night

• he attempted the opposite creating beautiful images at night

lighting trees at the edge of forests
the welsh valleys-between belonging and not belonging


Went to Africa

• Referenced the colonial past
• ther is no work
• people are inactive
• they are waiting
• did the work in 4 or 5 trips 3 weeks each time

Photographs of wars come to stand for that war

• but that subject must be interogated
• important for artists, playwrights, etc to go to places of war
• Joe Sacco-draws his work into grafic novels
• the disasters of war-a coloring book-it says war is accepted in our culture
• Verna Herzog - lessons of Darkness
• Frederic Setereau

'Hidden'

• landscapes of the Afghanistan War
• (always does research before going out)
• 1st week there was a panic, never had done this type of photography
• Camera allowed him into a landscape he couldn't go because it is littered with mines, bombs, terrorists-all hidden
• Day/night
• Interior/exterior - all utilized in his photos

'Volunteer'

• making work of Afghanistan with out being there
• about military recruitment centers
• showing where they are situated not the actual recruiting center
• post 9/11 Landscapes
• miserable spaces

[The work shows the economics of the time as well]