Hello! I’m Issey, an Irish photographer and fine artist currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York (b. 1995). 

I specialise in multi-format photography, ranging from digital, film, wet plate collodion and experimental mediums. Examples of my artist portrait work can be found here, headshot work here, wet plate here, fashion client work here, and experimental work here.

My work has been exhibited at numerous prestigious galleries including the Royal Hibernian Academy Ireland (RHA) and Studio 10, Dublin, as well as featured in group exhibitions alongside local Irish artists, including at ÍOVA Group, Abbey Artists Studios, and Hens Teeth. I’ve had work published in several national publications including The Irish Times (here) The Irish Independent (here and here), Life Magazine (here) Utopia magazine (here), and Gay Community News (here and here), as well as poster work showcased by renowned Dublin theaters including The Abbey Theatre (here) and Smock Alley Theatre (here). In New York, I will be exhibiting work for the first time at Juneshine (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) on 13th February as part of “Three by Grebner”.

When taking portraits and working with clients, my style often develops from working with my individual subjects in dialogue with their environment. I often play with my creative process and tend to compose my portraits around exposing the DIY tactics collaborated with each sitter, as in my work with artists Aisling Phelan here and Molly Keane here. I like to bare the artistic process, and in doing so invite the viewer into the production. This was the theme behind my 2022 collection Find Your Artists (available for purchase here), which brought together photographs of different artists (musicians, DJs, painters, sculptors) working in Ireland before and after the Pandemic.

As a fine artist, my projects have drawn on a variety of lens and screen-based practices, from photographic, image-generative, sculptural and installation work. Through these mediums, I hope to offer a glimpse into the intricate tapestry of personal and cultural narratives across different social environments. The arc of this practice began in 2018 with my undergraduate degree show “Check the Input Terminal”. Organised around the concept of digital “blue”, I displayed my entire YouTube search and watch history, using Google-collected data from my teenage years to young adulthood. Such themes of archived data continue in my current project, which delves into image-generating artificial intelligence to resurrect a lost photograph of a genderqueer ancestor. 

I received an honours BFA in Fine Art Media from The National College of Art & Design, Ireland (NCAD) in 2018. During this BFA I also studied Film, Video and Photography for an exchange semester at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 2022, I received a postgraduate diploma in Cultural Policy & Arts Management from University College Dublin (UCD).

I am currently open to all private and corporate client work in the New York area. Please get in touch via my contact page here.