O’Shea acquired his first camera in 1979 and early photography education was primarily self-taught, through constant practise and experimentation, library books and periodicals. Membership of the Photographic Society of Ireland and evening classes in the College of Marketing and Design helped build his knowledge and skills.
Encountering the work of artist Franco Fontana in the college library collection, prompted a shift to using colour, generally on slide film. Colour remains his primary mode of expression, having transitioned through many film formats, including SX-70, to his current digital-only practice today.
Things Found In Books, exhibited alongside the Belfast Exposed Futures programme project, sprang from his work environment and typifies his interest in the throwaway and fascination for the peculiar. It blends the indexical nature of photography and the traces of unseen and unknown others through the discovery of forgotten artefacts left in library books.
Research interests include the nature of information, collections and collecting, trace and indexicality, found photography and objects, classification and nature, classification as a process, surveillance, street photography, looking and modes of vision, the physicality of the digital image, glitch & chance, science fiction, space exploration, the apocalyptic and relics of nuclear war preparedness.
Awarded the MFA in Photography (with commendation) from Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, 2022. Attended 2020-2022.
Retired in 2020, following a career of 40 years as a librarian/senior librarian in numerous library environments – public, academic and specialised.
Awarded the Certificate in Photography and Digital Imaging from NCAD, 2014. Attended 2013-2014.
Studied Visual Culture at NCAD (2012-2013) and jewellery making (2000-2002).
Diploma in Library and Information Studies, UCD (1983-1985) (NFQ Level 9, Masters)
Works/Exhibitions
The MFA graduate project This Must Be The Place was exhibited in the group show Trace of Ownership (Belfast Exposed, 2022). Link:
https://www.source.ie/graduate/2022/ulstunimfa/ulstunimfa_student_07_22_04_06-08-22/ulstunimfa_student_07_22_04_06-08-22.php
The series, Things Found In Books (TFIB), was exhibited in the Gallery of Photography, Dublin in a group show, Engage, (2017). It
“…reveals strange synchronicities between bookmarks inadvertently left in library books. Like chanced-upon ‘readymades’ O’Shea’s images explore the mysterious interplay between private and public spaces.”
- Photo Museum Ireland
Also shown at D:light Studios (2015) and as The Real, The Imagined and The Constructed – NCAD graduate show (2014). Link: https://www.source.ie/graduate/2014/naticollce/naticollce_index.php
Exhibited at D:light Studios during PhotoIreland Festival (2013, 2015) and the Velka Gallery in 2004.
