The Aran Islands – Another World
February 2018
Dubliner Bill Doyle (1926–2010) first visited the Aran Islands in 1964 and began to photograph the life of the islanders, capturing a way of life that has since virtually vanished.
Doyle proclaimed himself a curious man, saying in an interview that “if there is a corner, I want to know what’s around it”. This curiosity led to some of modern Ireland’s most striking photographs. Doyle rarely staged his photographs, describing himself as a “one-shot photographer”, believing that his art form required some luck to get the perfect photograph and the mastery of being in the right place at the right time. According to poet Gerald Dawe, in his introductory essay for Bill Doyle’s Ireland, Doyle’s “intuition in capturing images of our world is the mark of a real genius.”
In 2009, a year before he passed away, Bill Doyle generously presented Galway City Museum with a stunning selection of photographs. They are currently on display in an exhibition entitled The Aran Islands – Another World which will run in the museum foyer until the end of March when it will be replaced by Tom Kenny’s Old Salthill, the second in a series of photographic exhibitions planned for 2018. Admission is free.
