Paul Seawright facts for kids
Paul Seawright OBE (born 1965) is a Northern Irish artist. He is the professor of photography and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (previously Executive Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Belfast School of Art) at Ulster University in Belfast/Derry/Coleraine. Seawright lives in his birthplace of 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.
In 2005, the Fotomuseum Antwerp exhibited a major survey exhibition of his work with accompanying catalogue Field Notes.
Seawright was Dean of Newport School of Art, Media and Design at the University of Wales, Newport. Later he was, and remains (in 2021), professor of photography at Belfast School of Art at Ulster University in Belfast. From 2012 he was head of Belfast School of Art and from 2016 Executive Dean of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences. He was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor of Ulster University in 2021.He served as a Council member of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Vice President of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts.
Seawright was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and the arts.
Exhibitions
- Hidden, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2003
- Further, Wales at The 50th Venice Bienalle, 2003
- Naughton Gallery, Queens University Belfast 2006
- Field Notes, National Media Museum, Bradford 2007
- How We Are: Photographing Britain, Tate Britain, London 2007
Awards
- 1997: Irish Museum of Modern Art Glen Dimplex Art Prize
- 2001: Personal chair by the University of Wales.
Collections
- The Tate, London.
- International Center of Photography New York,
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- British Council
- Arts Council of Ireland Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- UK Government Art Collection
TV and radio
- Afghanistan:Ashes to dust, BBC Radio Wales, BBC World Service 30 min documentary, 2002 – "Seawright reports from Afghanistan on the impact of more than twenty years of conflict on the country and its people"
- Profiles: Paul Seawright by Fintan O'Toole, BBC4, 30 minute documentary, 2003
See also
- List of artists from Northern Ireland
