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Artist's BioAlen MacWeeney was born in 1939 and educated in Dublin. He began his photographic career at the age of 16, as a press photographer for the Irish Times. In 1961, he went to New York to work as an assistant to Richard Avedon. During that period he also studied with the renowned graphic designer Alexey Brodovitch at the "Design Lab" in New York. Based in New York since then, he has worked as an editorial and commercial photographer. The majority of his work consisting of studio and environmental portraits, fashion and travel for editorial, corporate and advertising assignments. He has also undertaken numerous personal photographic projects as well.His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Travel+Leisure, Fortune and numerous other periodicals and books. He has received awards of excellence from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Advertising Club of New York, the Art Directors Club, the Society of Publication Designers and the Advertising Photographers of America. Ireland has been the center of his personal photographic projects. The photo essays he created there include: "Portraits of the Catholic Clergy" (1962-63), images reflecting the poetry of W.B. Yeats (1965-66), "The Conflict in Northern Ireland" (1971) and "Stone Walls" (1984-1986). The last project led him to another aspect of Irish life and the beginning of a deep involvement with Irish "Travellers". From 1965 to 1971, he photographed "Travellers" extensively in Dublin and the West of Ireland. Portfolios of the work were published in among others Creative Camera (1967), Aperture (1980), Ais Eiri (1981) and Photographers International (1996). During his time spent with the "Travellers" he tape-recorded a substantial amount of the oral history, music and songs of the "Travellers". He produced an LP record of the music entitled "Travelling People of Ireland"(Lyrichord New York 1967) and collaborated on the book "Puck of the Droms" with Artelia Court (University of California Press 1986). A limited edition portfolio of his work created during his time spent with the "Travellers" was published by The Hyperion Press, New York 1982.The portfolio is currently on display in the Levy gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His book Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More (with a CD of Traveller songs and music) has been published by New England College Press, NH and released in June '07. A CD of folktales and songs of a "Traveller" family was released in 2003 and double CD anthology of the music is currently being prepared for the Irish Traditional Music Archive, Dublin. The "Traveller" photographs were exhibited at the National Photographic Archive in Dublin, in October 2000 and at the Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, in 1996. The photographs have been also been exhibited in 2007 in New York, Paris and Boston, they were also central theme of a feature length documentary film, Traveller, which Alen co-directed with John T. Davis. Produced by Littlebird, Dublin (2000) and was broadcast by RTE in Ireland and by the BBC in 2002. MacWeeney lives in New York and Sag Harbor. Public Collections (partial list) The Art Institute of Chicago, IL Centre for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ. California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA Dartmouth College Museum, Hanover, NH International Centre for Photography New York City International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX Museum of Modern Art, New York City New Orleans Museum of Art, LA Museum of Art, RISD, Providence, RI Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA St. Louis Art Museum Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia |
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