NLI partners with Environmental Protection Agency to announce Paula T Nolan as first Photographer-in-Residence

Paula’s project, titled ‘ReViewing Ireland: A Photo Study of Ireland’s Environment’, will involve travelling via public transport to each of the 26 counties over a period of one year. Over four seasons, Paula will capture images of environmental interest. She will be aided by access to EPA experts and the NLI’s photographic collection. She will take pictures and compare them with what she finds in the landscape of today.

Marking the announcement, Dr Audrey Whitty, Director of the National Library of Ireland, said:

“We are delighted to announce that the selected artist photographer for the inaugural residency, 2024, is Paula T. Nolan with a project titled ‘ReViewing Ireland: A Photo Study of Ireland’s Environment’. Her work will embody the NLI’s mission, which is to collect, protect and make accessible the recorded memory of Ireland. This residency also embodies two key pillars of the NLI’s Strategic Plan - reveal and engage - as it will encompass the land and seascapes of Ireland by way of impact and inspiration.”

Laura Burke, Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency, welcomed the announcement, saying: “Over the last three decades, the EPA’s role has been to protect, improve and restore Ireland’s environment, through regulation, scientific knowledge and working with others. The partnership between the EPA and the NLI, and Paula’s resulting residency, will create an invaluable archive for the next thirty years and beyond, showcasing the state of our environment in a new and inspiring way. I am excited that this project will bring cultural and scientific knowledge closer together, and cultivate a richer understanding of our environment at such a critical time – asking where we are, where we’ve come from, and where we are going.”

Dr Sinéad McCoole, Head of Exhibitions, Learning and Programming at the National Library of Ireland, said: “Tasked with engaging people with our collections at the NLI brings exciting opportunities to meet with the creators of content -- from contemporary writers, to book illustrators to photographers like Paula T. Nolan. The winner of the inaugural NLI/EPA Photographer-in-Residence comes to us with vast experience, which she will now use for citizen engagement to capture Ireland with her lens in 2024.”

Paula T. Nolan, Photographer-In-Residence, said: "Being selected as the EPA/NLI/ PhotographerIn-Residence is the greatest achievement of my life as an artist photographer. There is no subject closer to my heart, more important to us all, than the survival of humankind and nature in light of the threat posed by the climate crisis. I am grateful for an opportunity to work visually with the subject, with people who know more than I do, to create a body of work that captures a year of Ireland’s environment."

The EPA was founded in 1993 and is sponsoring the programme as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations. The resulting final series of digital photographs will become part of the permanent national collections at the National Library of Ireland.

ENDS