Brian Newman - Artist In Residence
As part of the Artist In Residence programme, Photo Museum Ireland supported Brian Newman’s work exploring the associations and perceptions around the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, one of the institutions in the midst of Northern Ireland’s struggle for political identity.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is a Protestant fraternity founded in 1795. It is pledged to uphold and propagate the Protestant Christian faith within a broader, increasingly secular and diverse European island. Association considers the remoteness and isolation of border Lodges where diminishing numbers of Lodge members secure the fraternity’s ageing meeting places.
With his project Association Newman focuses on the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland as an institution that exists within the divide of Irish and British identities. These sensitive images show an organisation that is in some ways deeply embedded in local communities and in others increasingly isolated, a sense of which is conveyed by the spaces within the Lodges themselves.
Newman has built relationships for over a decade with his subjects and this is reflected in the access he has been given to individual Lodges and their members. This timely project and publication presents a portrait of the Orange Order that seeks to go beyond stereotypical representations to reveal a more nuanced and considered perspective.
Photo Museum Ireland produced a publication of Association which we launched in November 2023 with a conversation between the artist and Colin Graham, Professor of English at Maynooth University.
In conversation event and launch for Association at Photo Museum Ireland.
Artist Biography:
Brian Newman is a photographer and videographer. He was born in Belfast and studiedat Ulster University, graduating with a BA (Hons.) Visual Communication. In 2016, he was awarded an MFA in Photography. His work has been widely exhibited as part of Photo Museum Ireland’s five-year Reframing the Border programme. This programme was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, organised in partnership with the Nerve Centre and the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny.