Hobbyist and keen photographers will no doubt have been keeping an eye on the line-up for this year's PhotoIreland Festival, an event which features not only the up and comers on the Irish photography scene but international names as well. With talks, exhibitions and workshops held across the country, the event is suitable for anyone and everyone with an interest in visual art.

This year's event will indirectly feature the issue of abortion, with one of the main exhibitions featuring the Spanish-born Laia Abril. Her body of work will be shown at The Copper House Gallery in Dublin 8.

Below is an excerpt from her project bio.
Laia Abril’s new long-term project A History of Misogyny is a visual research undertaken through historical and contemporary comparisons. In her first chapter, On Abortion, Abril documents and conceptualizes the dangers and damages caused by women’s lack of legal, safe and free access to abortion. Continuing with her painstaking research methodology, Abril draws on the past to highlight the long, continuous erosion of women’s reproductive rights to present-day. Her collection of visual, audio and textual evidence weaves a net of questions about ethics and morality, and reveals a staggering series of social triggers, stigmas, and taboos around abortion that have been invisible until now.

Other exhibitions include the final year projects from various photography students in institutions around the country. They include the Dublin Institute of Technology, the Limerick School of Art and Design, the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and Griffith College Dublin. These exhibitions will be shown nationally in various near-by venues.

More information can be seen on the main website.

From exhibitions focusing on areas of Limerick to seminars on the trend of photobooks in the industry, masterclasses and walking tours - the PhotoIreland Festival is a wealthy resource for photographers and creatives alike, easily accessible and often free entry.

For a more in-depth overview of the festival, the full program is available online.