PHOTO MUSEUM IRELAND - PANEL OF ADVISORS INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERTS
PAULINE VERMARE
Pauline Vermare is a French photography curator and historian based in New York. She was formerly the cultural director of Magnum Photos NY, and a curator at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
From 2002 to 2009, she worked at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, in Paris. She is the author of numerous interviews and essays on photography. She sits on the boards of the Saul Leiter Foundation and the Catherine Leroy Fund. She recently curated the “Troubles I’ve Seen’ installation for our recent Protest exhibition at Photo Museum Ireland.
FRITS GIERTSBERG
Frits Gierstberg is Head of exhibitions at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam. He is also an art historian, curator, critic, and Extraordinary Professor of Photography at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Gierstberg has curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary photography, including Wasteland: Landscape from now on (1992), Human Conditions. Intimate Portraits (Montreal, 1999), Still/moving, Contemporary photography, film and video from the Netherlands (Kyoto, 2000), Surface: Contemporary photography, video and painting from Japan (2001) and Experience, the media rat race, Foto Biennale Rotterdam V (2003). He publishes regularly on international photography in the Netherlands and abroad and is also (co-) editor of a number of books about photography and visual culture, among which The Image Society. Essays on Visual Culture (2002) and Documentary now! Contemporary strategies in photography, film and visual arts (2005). He was co-initiator and editor of Dutch Eyes, A Critical History of Photography in the Netherlands (2007). In 2006 he was appointed by the Mondriaan Foundation as photography curator for the Dutch Dare! cultural programme celebrating 400 years of relationships between the Netherlands and Australia. He has recently curated exhibitions on contemporary visual media from Brazil and on new movements in Dutch photography. He published an extensive monograph on the Dutch photographer Oscar van Alphen in 2008. Gierstberg has collaborated with artists such as Raymond Depardon, Julian Germain, Osamu Kanemura, Susan Meiselas, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Joachim Schmid, Paul Shambroom and Manfred Willmann. http://www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl
TRACY MARSHALL-GRANT
Tracy Marshall-Grant is an Arts Director & Producer specialising in the production of photography exhibitions, festivals, education, and archive projects. She is currently Director of Development for the Royal Photographic Society and previously directed Bristol Photo Festival and LOOK Photo Biennial in Liverpool. Tracy has also been Director of Development at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool and Executive Director at Belfast Exposed Gallery. Tracy is also co-founder and Director of Northern Narratives, the non-venue-based photography production company specialising in archive exhibitions and long-term archive development projects. Amongst the productions within this she has developed a large international tour and publication of Martin Parr’s Irish work- currently touring Ireland and America until 2023. She has worked with Marketa Luskacova, Jem Southam, Café Royal Books and RRB Publications on a number of archive books and exhibition productions and is currently developing the Chris Killip retrospective with key photography publishers and galleries. She is also Director of Liverpool Photographer Ken Grant’s Archive. Tracy was also the project manager behind the 2021 Holocaust portrait exhibition with the Imperial War Museum, Royal Photographic Society, the Holocaust Memorial Trust, and the offices of the Duchess of Cambridge.
OLIVER SEARS
London-born Oliver Sears moved to Ireland in the mid-80s where he spent 10 years running fine art galleries in the south of Ireland. In 1995, he moved to Dublin where he temporarily abandoned the gallery format to become a secondary market art dealer in Irish and international contemporary art. During this time he started his own collection and spent the decade making frequent visits to New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Basel and Miami primarily, bringing an internationalism to this corner of Europe. In 2013 he opened his eponymous gallery in central Dublin presenting a contemporary exhibition programme including Irish and international artists, both emerging and established. The gallery is distinguished for its inclusion of contemporary applied arts exhibitions. The gallery is also recognised for its international presence, bringing carefully curated exhibitions to London & New York. In 2019 he presented In Living Memory at Emo Court in collaboration with the Office of Public Works. Oliver is the founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland which aims to connect the Holocaust to contemporary culture and the politics of our time.
Photo Museum Ireland Equality, Diversity, Inclusion Advisors
PROFESSOR MARK CUNNINGHAM
Mark Cunningham is the Ellen Mayston Bates Professor of Neurophysiology of Epilepsy at Trinity College Dublin. He uses neurophysiological techniques to study the mechanisms by which neuronal microcircuits generate organised electrical activity in the brain. He has a particular interest in understanding how pathological electrical activity is generated by the epileptic brain and how this can help develop better treatments for epilepsy. He was born in Newry, Co. Down and educated at the Abbey Grammar CBS. After reading Physiology at Queen’s University Belfast, he received a PhD in Physiology from Bristol University. Before joining Trinity, Professor Cunningham held a Professorship in Neuronal Dynamics at the Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University. His research has been funded by the BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome Trust, Epilepsy Research UK, Action on Hearing Loss, Hadwen Trust, Innovate UK, Wolfson Foundation, The Royal Society and Science Foundation Ireland. He has also had significant funding from a number of global pharmaceutical companies. Professor Cunningham has previously sat on the Biomedical Resource and Technology Development Committee at the Wellcome Trust and the Scientific Advisory Committee at Epilepsy Research UK. He is a fellow of the Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation (CASMI). He is a member of the British Neuroscience Association, The Physiological Society (UK) and the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE). He has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. In 2019 he was elected as a Professorial Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. He has an interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activities with active collaborations with ANU Productions and the interdisciplinary artist, Fiona McDonald.
Jeanne McDonagh
Jeanne McDonagh is CEO of the Open Doors Initiative, which works with a large number of companies and NGOs to help marginalised people such as refugees and asylum seekers, people with disabilities and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, find employment.
Previous to this, she was Head of Society and Engagement in Diageo, worked in communications and strategy for Our Lady’s Hospice, was campaign manager for Stephen Donnelly TD in the 2016 election, Communications Co-ordinator for Yes Equality (the Marriage Campaign) and Head of Communications for the Bar Council of Ireland.
She is on the board of Pride Dublin and was previously a board member of HIV Ireland and the Community Law and Mediation Service. She is on the Advisory Panel for the HIV and AIDS Monument, being organised by the Government
Tadgh de Freine
Tadgh de Freine is a designer and an accessibility advocate.
As a wheelchair user myself, I know that there can be unseen barriers to entry in many different settings. As a designer, I want to challenge these barriers. That is why I am pleased to be working with Photo Museum Ireland and lending my input into various aspects of their identity and giving feedback on their space to make it as accessible and inclusive as possible.
By combining my first-hand experience with accessibility issues, I have a unique position where I am more aware of these problems and can try to provide inclusive and long-term solutions to make everyone feel at home in Photo Museum Ireland. However, we know we’re not perfect, and we always strive to be better, so please, if you have any recommendations, let us know!