TODAY
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St Finbarr's Hospital Campus
Photography Publications
2016-14

Project supported by Health Service Executive South Arts and Health Programme

TODAY is a photography arts project that involved staff in St Finbarr’s Hospital campus working with artist Colette Lewis to explore and capture through photography aspects of life in the hospital during the years 2014 to 2016. The project has culminated in two books: ‘TODAY | PHOTOGRAPHS’ presents a series of photographs by staff in response to their perspective and experience of the hospital campus and ‘TODAY | PORTRAITS’ presents a series of environmental portraits of staff photographed by Colette Lewis.

St Finbarr’s Hospital campus operates today as a busy hospital and services provider in a setting rich in history and heritage. The campus has seen huge changes over the recent years in terms of its physical infrastructure (internally and externally) and with large numbers of staff relocating here from other locations.


The concept for the TODAY | PORTRAITS publication emerged out of conversations with staff in response to these recent changes. How could a photograph capture a sense of the changing face and function of a hospital campus? How could it capture the range of people and activities in such a diverse yet interdependent workplace? The idea emerged to create a series of environmental portraits that would foreground staff in a cross section of departments and blocks throughout the campus. The decision to formally pose people in a neutral stance is intended to create a sense of equality between each portrait. In time these portraits become a future archive of the many faces and professions that make up the profile behind the façade that is St Finbarr’s Hospital campus of today.

A focus of the TODAY | PHOTOGRAPHS publication provided staff with the opportunity to come together as a photography group to explore their perspective and experience of the hospital campus at this point in time. Nine projects are presented in this publication offering us nine different visual narratives from within the parameters of the hospital campus environment. A prevailing theme of transience underlies much of the work. While some images capture traces of a time past and of time passing, others reflect on more subtle gestures of physical activity in hospital work. Together this collection of images invites the viewer to reflect on the transient nature of a place in time encapsulated.