Ciarán Walsh set up curator.ie in 2010 as a vehicle for innovative curatorial projects with a strong public engagement component and a collaborative ethos.
Research projects include a long overdue review of the photographic work of John Joly (1857 -1933) and his network in Dublin, including Andrew Francis Dixon, Alfred Cort Haddon and John Millington Synge. This draws on Walsh’s ground breaking study of Alfred Cort Haddon, A Very English Savage and new work on photo-ethnography as a resource for Irish artists during the transition from Home Rule to revolution.
Recent curatorial projects include Rushes | Luachair, an exhibition that celebrates women’s moving image art practice and features selected work by Lisa Fingleton, Laura Fitzgerald (project curator), Bláithín Mac Donnell, Lorraine Neeson, and Mieke Vanmechelen. The exhibition marked the culmination of a two-year investigation of community film making in North Kerry.
From 2012 to 2023, Walsh ‘curated’ the return and burial of human remainsfrom TCD’s Anatomy Museum in partnership with Marie Coyne of Inishbofin Heritage Museum. TCD resisted determinedly before returning half of the collection in 2023. Dearcán Media featured the campaign as one of three stories in Iarsmaí (Remnants): exploring how museums and institutions in Ireland are ‘decolonising’ their historical collections.
Innovate – Engage – Excite
Projects
Rushes | Luachair – celebrating women’s moving image art practice
The Wren | An Dreoilín 1960-2025, a view from the archive.
The Tony Fitzmaurice Collection
A Midnight Court: Brendan Kennelly @ Carrigafoyle 30|09|25
A Day in the Bog | Heritage Week 2025
A showcase of film and photography from rural Ireland’s literary heartland
About the curator.ie
Ciarán Walsh is a freelance curator specialising in ethnographic photography and filmmaking, setting up www.curator.ie in 2010 and works from his home in Ballyheigue, County Kerry. Walsh has developed a series of journalistic and cross-over academic projects designed to engage the general public with issues raised by his research.
