Exhibition of photos by asylum seekers in Ireland to open in Wexford

An exhibition of photographs taken by asylum seekers living in Ireland is set to open at Wexford's Gorey Library on September 6.

The exhibition, titled Shared Space: Life at the Courtown Hotel, is the culmination of a three-month workshop led by Irish photographer J.P. Keating with support from Wexford County Council.

After meeting asylum seekers in an International Protection Accommodation Services centre, Keating organised the workshop to teach them photography so they could document their experiences in Ireland for the first time.

"Photography connects you to a place," said Keating of the project.

"When you document something, you begin to feel part of it or at least understand it better. For the participants, that act of photographing became a step towards belonging."

The photos were all taken on participants' mobile phones while living in the Courtown Hotel in Co. Wexford, which houses about 200 male refugees and asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers Baba Williams, Raouf, Paballo, Gesis, Barkhad, Abderaouf and Mohammed taking photographs on the pier in Courtown. Photo: JP Keating.

"The participants’ images capture moments of reflection in their new surroundings, offering an intimate glimpse into lives often unseen," wrote Keating.

Alongside the photos, the exhibition will feature selections from Keating's 2024 documentary series on the Courtown Hotel.

"I kept in contact with the guys from the hotel and then this year over the summer I taught them a weekly photography class, which has now culminated in us putting on this exhibition, with support from Wexford Co. Council," Keating said.

"The exhibition seeks to open a dialogue with the local community — to let people in, to reveal the human lives and faces behind the walls of the hotel...creating a conversation between two perspectives: the outsider documenting, and the residents now telling their own stories."

A portrait of one of the asylum seekers living in the Courtown Hotel, taken as part of Keating's 2024 documentary series. Photo: JP Keating.

Keating works as a documentary and commercial photographer in Ireland and the UK. He was recently invited to Áras an Uachtaráin to photograph President Michael D. Higgins before he leaves office.

Shared Space: Life at the Courtown Hotel will open at the Gorey Library in Gorey, Co. Wexford on Saturday, September 6 at 2:30 p.m. and run until September 20. Admission is free.