Richard Ian Gosnold
Photographic Artist
Through my art, I aim to forge connections and provoke thought, inviting viewers to reflect on the complexities of our shared human experience.
BIO
Richard Gosnold is a photographic artist based in Belfast. Through his work, he seeks to create connections between personal and collective histories, encouraging reflection on the complexities of identity, memory, and social structures. His art invites viewers to engage with the nuances of human experience, from belonging and isolation to resilience and change.
A graduate of Ulster University, with an MFA in Photography, Gosnold meditates on the human condition through varied photographic processes. His photobook dummy, It Starts With Silence (published with Kehrer Verlag, 2021), was shortlisted for the Unseen Amsterdam Photobook Award in 2019 and has been exhibited internationally, with works held in private collections.
In 2020, as part of its TLP Editions series, the Library Project (Dublin) published three printed volumes from his series, Paradise Lost. In 2022, he was invited to join the Irish Photo Network, a co-curated platform by Photo Museum Ireland, Belfast Exposed Gallery, Belfast Photo Festival, and Source Magazine, showcasing contemporary Irish photographic practices.
Gosnold is a member of the Belfast Photo Factory Collective, where he advocates for photobooks as an art form, both as a creator and reader. He organises regular photobook discussion groups and has chaired and presented photography events at Belfast Exposed Gallery and Belfast Photo Festival. In addition to teaching photography at Southeastern Regional College, he developed the workshop How to Create a Photobook, which he hosts at Belfast Exposed Gallery.
Personal Statement
I'm fascinated by photography's ability to communicate the poetics of life, the ebb and flow of existence. It allows me to capture transient moments that may otherwise be missed and forgotten.
As an instrument of inquiry, photography provides a space where I can reflect on the human condition and express my feelings about the world we live in. My long-form works allow me to explore ideas deeply: to obsess, to listen, to learn, to speak, and to breathe.
Seeking to make works that connect visually with my moods and the stories I convey, I employ varied photographic processes to create narratives that communicate my ideas. Previous artworks have covered themes such as belonging, isolation, transience, and loss. My most recent work raises questions regarding socio-political oppression, inequality, and vulnerability.
Exhibitions
2024 'It Starts With Silence', IMAGINÁRIA Festa do Fotolivro, São Paulo, Brazil
2023 ‘Secret Beach’, Working Artist Studios, Ballydehob, Ireland
2022 ‘In Our Own Image: Photography & the Social Gaze’, Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin
2022 ‘Contemporary Photography from Ireland’, Photo Ireland, Dublin Castle
2022 ‘It Starts With Silence’, Golden Thread Gallery Belfast
2021 ‘Love Art Buy Art’, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
2019 ‘Unseen’, Shortlisted Photobooks, Amsterdam
2018 ‘Project-or’, Estd, Belfast
2018 ‘Beyond View’, Belfast Exposed Gallery, Belfast
2017 ‘Selfie Society’, Estd, Belfast
2016 ‘Voices’, Photo Ireland Festival, Artbox, Dublin
2016 ‘Octo’, Ulster University MFA Show, Belfast
2015 ‘Sea Pool’, Remote Festival, An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny
2015 ‘Recoil’, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast
2014 ‘Heterotopia’, Homeplus, Belfast
2014 ‘Heterotopia’, The Red Barn Gallery, Belfast
2013 ‘Open House Festival’, The Hutch, Bangor, Co. Down
2013 ‘in lux’, Sync Space, Bangor, Co. Down
2013 ‘Homeward’, Belfast Fringe Photo Festival, T13, Belfast
2012 ‘Impact’, The Curve Gallery, Bangor, Co. Down
Books
2023 Self Published, ‘Secret Beach’
2021 Kehrer Verlag, ‘It Starts With Silence’
2020 TLP Editions, ‘Paradise Lost Vol I, II, III’
Publications / Features
2023 Irish Photo Network, ‘It Starts With Silence’
2018 Junior Press, ‘Voices’
2017 Source, 10 years of Graduate Photography Online, Top 150 Projects
2017 Abridged, ‘Too Much Contact, No More Feeling’
2017 Conker Magazine, Interview
2016 Photoworks Online, Showcase
2016 Source, Graduate Photography Online
2016 Irish Arts Review
Awards
2020 Arts Council Award, Support for the Individual Artist Programme, ‘It Starts With Silence’
2019 ‘Unseen’, Dummy Photobook Award, Shortlisted, Amsterdam, ‘It Starts With Silence’
2018 Arts Council Award, Support for the Individual Artist Programme, ‘Paradise Lost’
Commissioned Artist Talks
2024 Belfast Photo Festival, In conversation with artist Peter Pflűger
2023 Belfast Photo Festival ‘Photobook Conversations’
2022 Belfast Photo Festival ‘Photobook Conversations’
2022 Belfast Photo Festival, Panel Discussion, ‘A Bigger Picture: Photography Redefining Northern Ireland’
2021 Belfast Photo Festival ‘Photobook Conversations’
2021 Belfast Exposed Gallery, ‘Project Clean Sweep’, Artist Conversation with Dara McGrath
2021 Alliance for Choice, In conversation with writer Susan McKay, It Starts With Silence
2021 Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Love Art Buy Art