Before, During, After…Almost
David Farrell

Before, During, After…Almost is an excavation and animation of an archive of looking by Irish artist photographer David Farrell. These images, made over the last twenty-five years, are a personal narrative of a homeland in a period of great social and political transition. This multi-faceted narrative explores many themes such as the decline of institutional religion, the demise of the Celtic Tiger and the searches for the disappeared from the conflict in Northern Ireland. These themes are perhaps the inevitable delayed aftershock of revolution. In acting as a point of reflection in this centenary year of the Easter Rising the photographs, while having their origins in the ‘documentary style’, are open to metaphorical or allegorical readings beyond their surface content. The book is an adjunct to the eponymously titled exhibition that was held at the RHA in January 2016.

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David Farrell born Dublin (1961), read Chemistry at UCD graduating with a Ph.D in 1987. He has worked independently and on communion projects with Gogo Della Luna (Gudòk). Received the European Publishers Award for Photography in 2001 for Innocent Landscapes and has published three further books, Nè vicino nè lontano. A Lugo (2007), The Swallowing Tree (2014) and Before, During, After…Almost (2016). He has exhibited internationally including Houston FotoFest 2006, on four occasions at the Festival Internazionale di Fotografia, Rome and in China in 2008 and 2010.²

The Royal Hibernian Academy is an artist based and artist orientated institution dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public’s appreciation and understanding of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts. The Academy achieves its objectives through its exhibition education and collection programmes. The Academy is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, through fundraising initiatives, through the earned revenue from its Annual Exhibition and by the Benefactors, Patrons and Friends of the Academy.