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Seawright snaps the absence of violence

Paul Seawright pictured at his new exhibition at the Ulster Museum
Paul Seawright pictured at his new exhibition at the Ulster Museum Paul Seawright pictured at his new exhibition at the Ulster Museum

A NEW exhibition by renowned Belfast-born photographer Paul Seawright has opened at the Ulster Museum.

Things Left Unsaid explores contemporary conflict and its portrayal by US television news studios. Comprised of photographs of US television news studios which reported on the war in Iraq, Seawright focuses on how information is selectively transformed into news in these spaces.

The absence of images depicting the brutality and destruction of war form the real subject of these photographs – the ‘things left unsaid’.

"I’m delighted that the exhibition will be seen in Belfast," says Seawright. "Although it’s particularly about television news studios in the USA and their patchy reporting of war; it has resonance here in Northern Ireland.

"We have a lengthy history of television news in relation to the conflict here. The mediation of war is fraught with problems and 24-hour rolling news is something people here will recognise as having a difficult relationship with how a place, time or events are understood and represented.

"The exhibition draws parallels between the technology of warfare – drones, remote weapons, surveillance equipment telecommunications – and the news studio, where the landscape of the studio begins to represent the contemporary battlefield."

Born in Belfast in 1965, Seawright is professor of photography and head of the Belfast School of Art at the University of Ulster. His photographs of battle sites and minefields have been exhibited internationally. In 1997 he won the Irish Museum of Modern Art/Glen Dimplex Prize and he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art in 2003.

Curator of Fine Art at National Museums Northern Ireland, Anne Stewart, says: "Professor Seawright's work has deservedly achieved international prominence and he has long been considered a foremost photographer on conflict art.

"This is a fascinating exhibition. In many ways, it challenges the sanitisation of television news and the absence of harsh realities."

:: Prof Seawright will be delivering a talk examining the themes of contemporary conflict and journalism at the Ulster Museum on Thursday October 1, 7.30pm to 8.30pm. The exhibition will be on display in Art 4 at the Ulster Museum. Admission is free.