Ciúin Tracey is a freelance photographer from Dublin, Ireland who works mainly in fashion and commercial photography, with these genres influencing heavily upon her more personal fine art work. She has exhibited work in many galleries, including The Gallery of Photography, the RDS and Farmleigh House. She has also been printed in multiple publications, and is currently the resident photographer in Shutterbug, Kilkenny. Her work can be seen in the permanent collections of Olivier Cornet, Fire and Dublin Ink.
Tracey is interested in using the techniques gained through fashion and studio photography, to create photographic series that explore the person’s relationship with their bodies in relation to the ideals set forth by modern media stereotypes. Tracey is currently working on an expansion of her graduation series entitled The Tyranny of Beauty.
The Tyranny of Beauty is a photographic narrative that explores the representation of the body and the psychological impact of the promotion of certain physical ideals in the contemporary mediasphere. The series examines peoples’ relationships with their physical being and how often, in the search for the perfect or ‘utopian’ body, a dystopian reality is created as a result of unnatural aims and expectations.
As an exploration of the photographic studio and the codes surrounding the body of the model, the role of gesture and pose and the allegory of still life, these photographs represent related body-based and psychological states. Through the dark colour palette and the claustrophobic nature of the frame, the audience is confronted with a construction of dysfunction, which may be read as a kind of distortion and dismorphia produced by the excess of visual images in everyday life dictating unhealthy body ideals. These photographs propose another vantage point on a much-discussed social issue that affects men and women of all ages.
Exhibitions:
Guerrilla Exhibition May 2011 – Present (Ongoing)
Dublin & Maidstone, England
Exhibitor & Organiser
RDS Student Art Awards 28th July – 7th October 2011
RDS Ballsbridge and Farmleigh House
Exhibitor
This Space: Group Exhibition 9th – 14th September 2011
Little Green Street Gallery, Dublin
Exhibitor
Four Floors Group Exhibition: PhotoIreland 2011 19th - 31st July 2011
MadArt Gallery, Dublin
Exhibitor
Dublin Institute of Technology Graduate Exhibition 2011 7th – 26th June 2011
Gallery of Photography, Temple Bar
Exhibitor
Little Green Street Gallery Opening 22nd April – 5th May 2011
Dublin
Exhibitor
The Woman Factor 4th -6th March 2011
The Back Loft, Dubin
Exhibitor
Exotero: PhotoIreland 2010 28th September – 2nd October 2010
Library, Naas
Exhibitor
Ó Bhalla Go Balla 23rd September 2010
Dingle, Co. Kerry
Exhibitor
Full Spectrum 20th – 31st May 2010
Millstreet Studios, Dublin
Exhibitor
East Wall – A Community Remembered December 2009
Sean O’Casey Community Centre, East Wall
Curator/Organiser