Beyond the Image: Contemporary Irish Photography
Momentum Gallery presents five artists exploring the evolving language of photography in Ireland
Paris Photo 2026
Momentum Gallery · Booth D17
Grand Palais, Paris
12–15 November 2026
Vernissage: 11 November 2026
Momentum Gallery presents Beyond the Image: Contemporary Irish Photography at Paris Photo 2026, bringing together the work of five Irish artists – Mandy O’Neill, Shane Lynam, Jan McCullough, Sean Hillen and Alan Butler.
The first exhibition of its kind at Paris Photo, Beyond the Image explores how contemporary Irish artists are pushing photography beyond its traditional narrative function. Moving between documentary, constructed image, landscape and abstraction, the exhibition considers not only what a photograph depicts, but how it is made – and how processes of production shape meaning, perception and experience.
In Ireland today, photographic process is increasingly understood as an integral part of the work rather than simply a technical means of producing an image. Working across long-form projects, contemporary Irish photographers move fluidly between analogue, digital, camera-less and multimedia processes, selecting and adapting methods according to the ideas they seek to explore.
The five artists in Beyond the Image approach photography from distinct perspectives, reflecting the breadth and evolving nature of contemporary practice in Ireland. Their work engages with identity, socio-political realities, memory and place, while questioning the material and conceptual boundaries of the medium. Images are layered, fragmented, deconstructed and reconceptualised, resisting fixed interpretations and inviting viewers to look beyond the surface of the photograph.
Diverging from “image-as-story”, the works embrace process, materiality and perception, incorporating abstraction, experimentation and interdisciplinary approaches. Some artists adapt early photographic techniques to contemporary contexts and experiment with materials; others extend photography beyond the two-dimensional image.
The evolution of photographic practice mirrors a broader transformation in Ireland – a country that has become more urban, diverse, technologically connected and internationally engaged. These shifts have brought new perspectives and experiences, expanding the ways in which Ireland is seen and represented.
The artists in Beyond the Image respond to this changing landscape not simply by documenting it, but by questioning and reimagining what photography can be.
Rather than presenting Ireland simply as a subject,
Beyond the Image reveals the diversity of contemporary photographic practice emerging from Ireland today. From process and form to production and materiality, the exhibition offers an immersive encounter with an evolving photographic language – one that reflects a changing Ireland while expanding how we understand and experience photography itself.
Artists
Sean Hillen
Mandy O’Neill
Shane Lynam
Jan McCullough
Alan Butler
Exhibition Information
Beyond the Image: Contemporary Irish Photography
Paris Photo 2026
Momentum Gallery · Booth D17
Grand Palais, Paris
12–15 November 2026
Vernissage: 11 November 2026