Jan McCullough

Born 1991
Website janmccullough.co.uk

Jan McCullough is an Irish artist living and working in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her performance-based photographic work has been nominated for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize, ICP New York Infinity Award and won the British Journal of Photography Breakthrough Award. Her book ‘Home Instruction Manual’, published by Verlag Kettler, was awarded the Kassel Fotobookfestival Dummy Award and shortlisted for the Recontres D’Arles Author Book Award. Recent installations include Gallery of Photography in Dublin, Seen Fifteen Gallery in London, Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam and Landskrona Museum in Sweden.

Publications

Photography books by Jan McCullough

2016 Home Instruction Manual, Verlag Kettler

Awards and honours

2018 Freelands Artist Programme 2018 – 2020
2018 Nomination, Pla(t)form 2018, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
2016 Nomination, Deutsche Borse Photography Prize
2016 Shortlist, Recontre D’Arles Book Award
2016 British Journal of Photography Breakthrough Award
2015 Kassel Fotobookfestival Dummy Award
2015 Genesis Award, FORMAT Photography Festival

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2016 Home Instruction Manual, Seen Fifteen Gallery, London

Group exhibitions

2018 Dissolving Histories, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
2018 Re/Member/Construct, Filter Space, Chicago
2018 209 Women, Portcullis House, London
2018 Singapore International Photo Festival, Singapore
2018 TIFF Festival, CPF18, Wroclaw, Poland
2018 Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Greece
2018 A Place To Live, SIFEST Festival, Italy
2018 10×10 Photography Festival, Gonzaga, Italy
2017 International Festival of Photography, Monopoli
2017 Engage, Gallery of Photography, Dublin
2017 Photobookshow, Taiga, Saint Petersberg
2017 FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby
2017 Interactions, Belfast Exposed Gallery, Belfast
2016 The Gallery, Belfast School of Art
2016 New Irish Works, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2016 New Irish Works, The Library Project, Dublin
2016 Arles Book Awards, Grand Halle, Arles
2016 Fotoview: Ireland, Landskrona Museum, Sweden
2016 BJP Breakthrough, Old Truman Brewery, London
2016 First Edition, Cork Photo, Cork
2015 Belfast Exposed Futures Gallery, Belfast
2015 Espace Lhomond for Paris Photo, Paris
2015 Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam
2015 Kassel Touring Exhibitions: IED, Madrid Fotoistanbul, Istanbul Aarhus, Denmark Gothenburg, Sweden Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Kaunas Photo, Lithuania Photo Ireland, Dublin, Encontros das Imagem, Portugal
2014 Reconstructions, Belfast Exposed Gallery, Belfast
2014 Circulation(s) Festival, Le Centquatre, Paris

Projects

Vision Board Party (2018)
Jan McCullough’s video piece, Vision Board Party, explores a ritualistic activity which aims to manifest desire into physical reality. Participants, led by the vision board party’s facilitator, cut and paste photographic images and words from magazines to construct collages which express their future desires, both emotional and physical. These are then referred to and meditated upon in the belief that these aspirations will consequently become reality.¹ The film examines a Vision-Board-enthusiast named Kaya as she hosts a ‘Vision Board Party’, a celebratory gathering of people utilizing photography in a tactile manner in order to construct their desired futures.²

Home Instruction Manual (2014 – 2016)
Home Instruction Manual explores the construction of identity through a series of collected ‘instructions’ or ‘truths’ about home, through the use of google, as explained here. Traditionally, instruction manuals have been the perfect source for practical solutions. Experts in specific subjects provide written authority on how to repair faults and carry out tasks from scratch. “I typed ‘how to make a home’ into Google, and was directed to an online chat forum in which self-described experts were exchanging detailed instructions. I rented an ordinary suburban house and carried out the strangers’ advice exactly over the period of two months. In complying with the instructions for making the perfect home, I contemplated the construction of an identity from scratch. The following photographs document the end result of my time living and working in the house, trying on different lives for size.“³

Ladders (n.d.)
Edition of 9 handmade artist books, made while I was photographing in work sheds. A group of men were working to repair specific parts of trains that required special ladders to gain access. They built and rebuilt ladders from varying materials in order to carry out their work. The books are a record of these DIY purpose-made ladders. An edition of 9 (1 for each man) printed on wood paper and small enough to fit in their jean pockets. ⁴