Tullamore natives work on display alongside press photos of the year
The world’s best press photos are currently on show in Dublin, and the work of Tullamore native Aisling O’Rourke is on display alongside them.
Aisling is one of three up-and-coming talents whose work was chosen to feature alongside the 2014 World Press Photo exhibition at Dublin’s chq building as part of its ‘Young Journalist Spotlight’ initiative.
A senior journalist with Clare FM, Aisling is currently studying for a masters in documentary photography and photojournalism at the London School of Communication.
Speaking to the Offaly Independent this week Aisling said she’s thrilled to have been selected to have her work ‘A Bower for Sisters’ featured alongside the World Press Photo winners.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” the DCU graduate explained, singling out one moment in particular at the exhibition’s opening last Friday as being especially memorable.
“While hearing Mary Robinson speak about the role the media plays in relation to human rights and to meet her at the opening was a wonderful experience,” she explained.
The 57th World Press Photo exhibition, and Aisling’s work too, will remain on display at the chq building in Dublin’s Docklands until November 15.
The main exhibition comprises 150 winning images chosen from over 98,000 images submitted by 5,754 photojournalists in 132 countries, including the ‘photo of the year’ by American photographer John Stanmeyer showing African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night, raising their phones in an attempt to capture an inexpensive signal - a link to relatives abroad - from neighbouring Somalia.
Aisling said she’s been making photographs since she became strong enough as a toddler to hold her father’s Olympus OM10, and can also remember interviewing her neighbours with an old microphone and tape recorder about their daily activities from a young age too.
“In both my roles, in radio and as a photographer, I’m interested in telling stories,” she explained. “Whether that be my undergraduate thesis on the 125 years of the GAA, or the technology used to treat Type 1 Diabetes or the story of living with dignity with dementia, I aim to give people a glimpse into worlds not normally in the public eye.”
Aisling is now focused on completing her photo book ‘A Bower for Sisters’ as her masters thesis, and is hoping to gather the funds to publish a short run of the work in the new year.
Tickets to the World Press Photo exhibition are priced €6.50 for adults, with concession tickets for students, seniors and jobseekers and a secondary schools outreach prgoramme also available.