Southern Cross
Mark Curran

This publication was produced to coincide with the exhibition Southern Cross at the Gallery of Photography.
The Project compromises two series, prospect and site. In site Curran focuses on the new landscape of motor ways and by-passes capturing both the majesty and the uncertainty of Irelands rapid development. The exhibition provides a timely opportunity for reflection on a pivotal period in Ireland.

Along side his landscapes are portraits of construction workers which dramatically convey the dignity of manual labour at a time when it is set to become a thing of the past. These images intersect with works from the prospect series, which concentrates on the Brave New World of the IFSC Irelands financial district.

Mark Curran is a practice-led researcher and educator living and working in Berlin and Dublin. He completed a practice-led PhD at the Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) (2011), lectures on the BA (Hons) Photography programme, Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Dublin and is Visiting Professor on the MA in Visual and Media Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin. Incorporating multi-media installation informed by ethnographic understandings, his practice addresses the predatory context of migrations and flows of global capital. His first long-term project, SOUTHERN CROSS (Gallery of Photography, Dublin 2002), was widely published and exhibited and The Breathing Factory (Edition Braus/Belfast Exposed Photography/Gallery of Photography 2006), the outcome of his doctoral research has been extensively presented, including, DePaul Art Museum (DPAM), Chicago (2010), Xuhui Art Museum, Shanghai (2010) and FORMAT, Derby (2013).

Established in 1978 by John Osman, Gallery of Photography is an active photography space for exhibitions, publications and artist’s facilities.

SIPTU is Ireland’s largest trade union, with around 200,000 members. Most of these members are in the Republic of Ireland, although the union does have a Northern Ireland District Committee.