Biography

Self portrait collage, 2024

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DOMINIC TURNER was born in Belfast in 1973. By the age of 10 he was already taking photographs and learning how to develop film and make prints in a home darkroom in rural Co. Kildare. After secondary school, he studied for a degree in History and following graduation obtained a post graduate diploma in Arts Administration. Feeling more drawn to the creative arts however, he began working in the graphic design and new media industry and did so for a number of years. This is where his love of photography was rekindled and his interest in the photographic print was established. In 2008 he co-founded Exhibit A Studios in Dublin and as master printer there, he practices a range of photographic printing processes dating from the 19th Century right up to the present day, producing prints for some of Ireland's most celebrated visual artists.

Turner's theoretical concerns linger on concepts of memory and truth, both inherent traits of photography itself. To explore these fully he digs deep into process, both analogue and digital, building his images through a complex palimpsest of texture and tone until the right emotion is found to compliment the subject. His projects range in style from personal documentary, conceptual and street with no fixed commitment to any particular school of photography, although he maintains a particular admiration for the work of mid 20th century black and white photographers and that of Eugène Atget whose monumental works stradle the 19th & 20th centuries.

"(Turner's) work confronts us with the original ambiguity of photography, this strange invention always torn between reality and fiction, especially when it is devoid of context. Dominic Turner's exploded, sometimes almost dissolved landscapes are reminiscent of those of Jungjin Lee and Renato d'Agostin. But also to the sober poetry of the Italian school of Senigallia which included Mario Giacomelli, Ferrucio Ferroni and the precursor Giuseppe Cavalli." - POLKA, Paris (translated from the original French)

In 2007, Turner had his first major solo exhibition at the Mermaid Gallery in Bray, Co. Wicklow. Since then his photographs have been widely exhibited and collected, having been included in many International Festivals, notably InCadaques Photography Festival in 2018 (Open Call winner), and juried competitions such as the RHA Annual in Dublin, the Royal Academy Summer Show (UK) and are part of several public and private collections. In 2021, he received an ‘Honourable Mention’ in the prestigious Hariban Award, run by Benrido Atelier in Kyoto, Japan.

In 2023, he published his first monograph entitled ‘False Friends’. A solo exhibition of this work was presented by Polka Factory, Paris in the Autumn of 2024.

Select Exhibitions

2024

'False Friends' - Polka Factory, Paris, France [solo]

‘Lavit Gallery Winter Exhibition’, Lavit Gallery, Cork [Group]

'Bokeh' – SO Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

'Kwaidan' - Kyoto University of the Arts, Kyoto, Japan [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy's 193rd Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

'Kwaidan: Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn' – Ballinglen Museum of Art, Ballycastle Co. Mayo [Group]

‘Prism Inside’, Íova Group Show, Tør Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin [Group]

2023

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibiton, London, UK [Group]

'Kwaidan' - Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum, Matsue, Japan [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy's 193rd Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

'Finding Form' – Selected Works from Kildare’s Municipal Art Collection, Riverbank, Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland [Group]

2022

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, London, UK [Group]

'Shot’. SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin [Group]

'Images Are All We Have', Museum of Contemporary Photography of Ireland/PhotoIreland Festival, The Printworks, Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

2020

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

'Selected Works of the UCC Art Collection', The Glucksman, UCC, Cork, Ireland. [Group]

2019

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

2018

Fotofever, Charlet Photographies, Paris, France [Group]

InCadaqués International Photography Festival. Open Call, 2018, Winner's Exhibition. Cadaqués, Spain [Solo]

'Gathering', Boyle Arts Festival, Co. Roscommon. King House. Invited Artist [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland [Group]

2017

Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Belfast

'Renaissance Photography Prize, 2017'. Finalist. Getty Images Gallery, London

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland

'Shot’. SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin [Group]

'Painterly Photography’. Catherine Hammond Gallery, Skibbereen, Co. Cork [Group]

2016

‘The Idea of North’. SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin [Group]

‘Shutter’. SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin [Group]

‘Chasing Shadows’, Gallery X, Dublin [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland. Invited participant [Group]

Little Stories, Little Prints - A 1916 Commemorative Visual Art Project [Group]

2015

Fotofever, Charlet Photographies, Paris, France [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2014

Skibbereen Arts Festival, Cork [Solo]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2013

Fotofever, Paris, France [Group]

‘Outside/In’ - Camera Obscura Installation. Big House Festival, Castletown House, Celbridge,. Co. Kildare

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2012

‘CIRCULATION(S’) Festival de la Jeune Photographie Europeénne, Paris [Group]

Chasing Shadows, The Profile Gallery, Saltburn -by-the-Sea, UK [Group] ‘Rayko’s 5th International Juried Plastic Camera Show’, San Francisco, USA [Group]

‘Illusion & Chemistry: The Alternative Process’, Kat Kiernan Gallery, Virginia, USA [Group]

Arles Photography Open Salon, Galerie Huit, Arles, France [Group]

2011

‘Human/Nature’, OPW State Art Collection, Farmleigh, Dublin [Group]

Chasing Shadows 11, CFCP, Dublin [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 2011, Dublin. Invited participant. [Group]

2010
Chasing Shadows, CFCP, Dublin [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2009

Photo LA/Andrew Ward Gallery [Group]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2008

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

2007

'Plastography', Mermaid Arts Centre Gallery, Bray, Co. Wicklow [Solo]

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin [Group]

Airfield Trust, Dundrum, Co.Dublin [Solo]

Mermaid Arts Centre Gallery, Bray, Co. Wicklow [Group]

2006

'Plastography', The Front Lounge, Dublin [Solo]

2005

'Plastography', Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny [Solo]

2004

Xhedos Gallery, Detroit, USA [Group]

Yebisu Photographic Week, Tokyo, Japan [Group]

Collections
 

UCC/Glucksman Art Collection, University College Cork, Ireland

OPW State Art Collection, Ireland

Kildare County Council Municipal Art Collection

SMBC Art Collection

DFA (Dept. of Foreign Affairs) Collection, Ireland

David Kronn Collection