Paul Seawright

Paul Seawright is a contemporary Northern Irish photographer known for his large-format color photographs.

Biography of Paul Seawright

Paul Seawright was born in 1965 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He obtained a Foundation in Art & Design from the University of Ulster. He earned a BA (Hons) in Photography, Film, Television & Animation from the West Surrey College of Art & Design. Later, Paul Seawright completed his Ph.D. in Photography at the University of Wales.

In 1997, he secured the Irish Museum of Modern Art/Glen Dimplex Prize.

In 2002, the Imperial War Museum London commissioned him to create a war art piece in Afghanistan. His photographs of battle sites and minefields from this project have since been showcased in exhibitions across North America, Canada, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Korea, Japan, and China.

One year later, in 2003, Paul Seawright represented Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art. In 2005, the Fotomuseum Antwerp presented a comprehensive survey exhibition of his work alongside the accompanying catalog titled "Field Notes."

In the 2020 Birthday Honours, Seawright was honored with the appointment of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his contributions to higher education and the arts.  

Currently, the artist holds the position of Professor of Photography and Executive Dean of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Ulster. He lives and works in Belfast. 

Paul Seawright's Art Style

Paul Seawright has extensively drawn from his Northern Irish background to create probing photographic explorations of its complex political landscape. This is evident in his series "Orange Order" and "Police Force" from the early 1990s.

Seawright is known for his works related to his hometown, Belfast, including the series "Sectarian Murder" from 1988. Within this series, Paul Seawright meticulously captured the locations of sectarian murders around Belfast. These images were coupled with newspaper reports, where he intentionally omitted any mention of the victim's religious background. This approach depoliticized the violence, directing attention to the extensive civilian casualties during the period of the Northern Irish "Troubles."

In his more recent body of work, Seawright has shifted his focus from a distinctively Irish context to a broader scope, delving into what he terms a "generic malevolent landscape." This landscape is embodied by uninhabited spaces on the fringes of cities and forests across Europe. His images take the viewer from luminous, sun-bleached vacant spaces to corners of nearly complete darkness, illuminated solely by the dim and ambient glow of street lamps, creating a seamless blend between the urban landscape and the forest.

His photographic creations are included in numerous museum collections, such as The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Tate, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, International Centre of Photography New York, Arts Councils of Ireland, England, and N. Ireland, the UK Government Collection, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Rome.