Paul Seawright
Paul Seawright is a Northern Irish artist. He is the professor of photography and the Deputy Vice Chancellor 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 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". 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 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. His Afghanistan work is included in the Imperial War Museums extensive exhibition of art and conflict, Visions of War: Art of the Imperial War Museums, which opened in November 2023.
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, 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 in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and the arts.
Exhibitions
Hidden, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2003Further, Wales at The 50th Venice Bienalle, 2003- Naughton Gallery, Queens University Belfast 2006Field Notes, National Media Museum, Bradford 2007How 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
- 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
Publications
Publications by Seawright
Death: Selected by Dawn Ades et al.. Cambridge Darkroom Gallery / Kettles Yard Gallery, 1988.Valokuvataide Arkitaide. Helsinki, 1989.Shocks to the System. Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1993.The Orange Order. Belfast: Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 1993.Nervous Landscapes. Southeast Museum of Photography, FL, 1994.Inside Information. London: The Photographers' Gallery, London, 1995.L'Imaginaire Irlandais. Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1996.Residential. Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 1997.Constructing Identity., Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, 1997.Paul Seawright. Salamanca, Spain: Salamanca University, 2000.The Map. Catalogue of public art project, SDCC. Edition of 22000 copies.The Forest. Gotenberg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center; Selborne, Hampshire, UK: Shoreditch Bienale, 2001. Edited by Christine Redmond and Val Williams.. With a text by Seawright.Hidden. London: Imperial War Museum / Bangor Museum of Modern Art, 2003.Maintenant: Now. Vincent Levois, Le Mois de la Photo, 2003.Gestes, Le Printemps de Septembre Toulouse. Actes Sud, 2003.Landscape of War. Centre d'Art la Panera, Spain, 2004.Field Notes. Antwerp: Fotomuseum Antwerp, 2005.Invisible Cities. Cardiff: Ffotogallery, 2007.. Edited by Christopher Coppock, essay by John Reader and an interview with the artist by Russell Roberts. Edition of 1000 copies.Volunteer. Artist Photo Books, 2013..- Things Left Unsaid. Artist Photo Books, 2014..
- Beasts of Burden. Cologne: Strzelecki, 2021.. Edited by Thomas Niemeyer. 72 pages, 32 coloured illustrations.