In The Shadow Of The Butterfly Bush | Gareth McConnell

Northern Ireland Alternatives is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographic art works In The Shadow Of The Butterfly Bush by Gareth McConnell, celebrating over 25 years of the organisation and restorative justice in Northern Ireland.

McConnell is celebrated for working in an unlikely spectrum of subjects that include youth, style and fashion, animals, psychedelia, sectarianism, plants flowers and trees, and addiction and the visual vocabularies of drugs culture. He was born in 1972 in Northern Ireland and grew up during the Troubles. The photographs and exhibition are a special commission by Northern Ireland Alternatives, a charity who work to maintain community and repair social harm in Northern Ireland, through the successful implementation and teaching of restorative justice practices.

McConnell’s In The Shadow Of The Butterfly Bush comprises multiple photographic diptychs, arranged in a choreographed format. Each diptych contains two photographs: one of a person who has been supported by Northern Ireland Alternatives, and one of a Butterfly (Buddleia) Bush. The Butterfly Bush is a common flowering plant and can represent a dichotomy; sometimes viewed as a reviled nuisance weed, symbolising urban and social decay; and sometimes as a greatly welcomed, very attractive and fragrant, garden shrub. McConnell’s depictions of people and butterfly plants give strong emphasis to how identity is subject to the variable relationships of the individual and the group, and explores equivalences and differences between ideas of growth, change, order and confusion, beauty, and hope. The works are highly coloured and technically exciting.

KEY DATES

• Exhibition launch: Late Night Art, Thursday 3 April, 6-9pm
• Artist talk as part of Healing Through Photography conference: Join Gareth McConnell as he discusses his work as part of the Healing Through Photography conference on Monday 7 April at 1.30pm, in Belfast Exposed Gallery 1.

The Artist

Gareth McConnell

Artist Biography

McConnell’s recent projects include a show about flowers and psychedelia at London’s Seen Fifteen gallery in 2022 and a book and Ulster Museum show To The Beat of The Drum in 2021. Other recent book publications include The Horses (2022).  McConnell originated and runs a much admired project imprint called Sorika showcasing his and other artists’ works. His work has been featured and written about in publications such as Aperture, Frieze, and the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times. He has collaborated with diverse brands such as Chloe, Jo Malone, and Sports Banger.

Acknowledgments

Supported by Northern Ireland Alternatives