ABOUT
A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT
A Certain Slant of Light is a miscellany of photographs made over the last twenty four years by Pádraig Grant. The key theme with this collection is that they are personal to the photographer. They are about composition, timing, the use of light and poking below the surface of people and situations to reveal something deeper.Most of the images have never been exhibited or published before. Perhaps the most striking photograph is a powerful portrait "Seán MacBride, 1987". It was photographed just a few weeks before the death of this Irish government minister, former IRA Chief of Staff and Nobel prize winning international politician. "I have rarely been in the company of a person with such presence or with one that could position themselves so deliberately in a room so as to totally dominate proceedings" writes Pádraig of his portrait.Some images are familiar having been exhibited or published locally and internationally, "Smiling Boy, Juba, South Sudan1989" was made in the midst of civil war; "Four Muslim Schoolboys, Sri Lanka 2005" was shot in the aftermath of a devastating tsunami. There are some unseen images made in Wexford too; "Flying Dutchman, 1993" is a picture of a man leaping, super hero like, into a VW Combi van and "Altar boys on way to Corpus Christi parade" illustrates a passing Ireland. More recent images such as "Storm approaching, Liberia 2010" reveal Pádraig's fascination with the in-between moments where both light, situation and location are all on edge.The images are selected from pictures made in Australia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Romania, Samoa, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Congo, New Zealand, Ireland and Iceland.
