Waterford Imagine Arts Festival 2024 through photographer’s eyes
Last fall, I had the unique opportunity to photograph one of the longest-running festivals in Waterford, the Imagine Arts Festival.
The Imagine Arts Festival was first held in 2001 and was created for a simple reason – local artists felt that the city lacked an artistic platform. Nowadays, the festival runs for 1 week in October and the program includes live music, workshops, dance, exhibitions, theater performances and various tours.
Each year has its own theme and a program is then put together accordingly, to which artists can send their proposals from the beginning of the year. Of all the festivals I have introduced to you so far, the Imagine Arts Festival is not free. Some performances are free, but you have to pay for most. Fortunately, the entrance fee usually ranges between 5 and 20 euros and you can go to several events in a week.
Last year was very interesting – for me personally, but also in terms of the program. The festival dates fell on Halloween week and we enjoyed the Halloween parade on the weekend. The organizers managed to include a few popular Irish artists who were on tour, as well as a Kurdish-Syrian artist and a choir of people with intellectual disabilities who even signed with their hands while singing.
I was the only photographer who took photos directly for the festival and I had access to absolutely everywhere. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it “everywhere”, the program was really packed, but I had the opportunity to take photos in St. Patrick’s Gateway, The Theatre Royal and Bank Lane (the last two I’ve wanted to take photos in for a long time). I also took a look backstage at the theatre and thanks to this venue and Bank Lane (a newer local club for live music and other performances) I realized that my camera and lenses were not enough (there wasn’t much light, the photos are quite dark for my taste). It was a very humbling experience.
I managed to document roughly all of this in a whole week (or 6 days/I’m attaching a few photos from each day/performance):
Tuesday:
– Maritime lecture from 13:00 at the Marina Hotel
– Shell/Ter exhibition opening from 18:30 at the GOMA gallery. This is where I first encountered flickering lights and black stripes in photos. I finally found a solution (my camera has an anti-flicker function, but of course only with a mechanical shutter that makes a clicking sound…).
– Shell/Ter screening at the museum at 21:00
– Queer performance by Wayne Power – Dress Me Up from 21:00 at Bank Lane. My new lens kept throwing black stripes and I couldn’t take pictures with a mechanical shutter because the play had no musical background and the clicking of the shutter would have disturbed the performance. Luckily I had my concert camera with me, which saved me.
Wednesday:
– Performance of A Silent Message 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM at the museum. A “one woman” show about a rape that took place on the streets of Waterford about 10 years ago. Only the actress is in the photos because unfortunately Waterford did not appreciate the performance and few people came.
– Performance by Shane Barry: WAV 8:30 PM – 10:00 PM at St. Patrick’s gateway. WAV stands for Waterford Audio Visual – footage from Waterford was shown alongside the music.
Thursday:
– Lecture on Waterford’s notable women from 1pm at Blackrock Coffee
– Workshop by Cathy Purcell: Fragments 6pm – 7:30pm at St. Patrick’s gateway. Local artist shares her knowledge of making music. She also brought a lot of interesting instruments with her.
– Performance by John Blek & The Broken Strings 8pm – 10pm at St. Patrick’s gateway. John Blek is a very popular Irish folk singer.
Friday:
– Halloween parade by SPRAOI at 7:30 PM. I didn’t realize how dark the streets were and how inadequate the lighting was. Other photographers were using flash, I’m not a fan of it and I tried taking photos without flash.
– Mohammad Syfkhan performance 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM at St. Patrick’s gateway. Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish-Syrian musician. The musician had red and pink lighting, which cameras don’t like. I ended up editing a lot of the photos in black and white.
Saturday:
– Brothers of Charity Lámh Choir performance from 2pm at the Book Centre (bookstore). People with intellectual disabilities sang in a local bookstore and also did a sign language.
– Kathleen Doherty & Cathy Purcell performance 6pm – 6.45pm at St. Patrick’s gateway
– Jerry Fish performance: Electric Sideshow 8pm – 10pm at the Theatre Royal. Jerry Fish became very popular over the summer at various festivals. Jerry sings, but he also has circus roots and he doesn’t hide it at all. So some elements of the show are more circus and you can see it during Jerry’s performance.
Sunday:
– Dave Flynn Performance/Workshop: Improvisation Residency 6pm – 8pm at WGOA (Waterford Gallery). David is a local artist in residence at Garter Lane Arts Centre. During this performance he played a variety of guitar melodies and genres based on what was chosen by the audience.
– OCTAVATE Performance 8pm – 9.30pm at St. Patrick’s Gateway
I am so happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph this year and experience what it is like to be a busy photographer (not for me haha). Every night I went home excited about all the performances and lectures and performances and workshops I saw that day and I can simply say that art is the best thing we as humans could have invented. If you want to learn more about the festival itself, then visit their official website – imagineartsfestival.com.
