Published by Photo Museum Ireland Ireland
Softcover | 36 pages | 148×210 mm

Official Launch: 19 May 2022 at 5pm at Photo Museum Ireland

Inspired by Mass-Observation, the research organisation founded in 1937, Mass Isolation invited people to share images of their experiences during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Ireland through social media. I am delighted to announce that Untitled #3 - taken during the first lockdown in Ireland, has been selected to be included in the publication. The book showcases a cross-section of images from the project and it has been curated by Darja Zeitzev from the Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu, Finland, one of the partners on the project, and includes a thoughtful essay from Ailbhe Greaney, photographer and lecturer.

With over 120 images from 85 contributors, the Mass Isolation Publication gives a unique insight into how people experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and serves as a lasting record of the way photography as a medium can bring people together in a time of crisis.

Running on Instagram between March and June 2020, the Mass Isolation Project grew into a crowd-sourced online archive. You can view all the contributions, search the tags #massisolationproject and #massisolationIRL on Instagram. Initiated by Photo Museum Ireland, it was subsequently taken up by partner organisations in the UK, Finland and Australia. You can view the international contributions to the project here:

• Format Festival, Derby, England: #massisolationFORMAT

• Impressions Gallery, Bradford, England: #massisolationIG

• Northern Photographic Centre, Finland: #massisolationfi #massisolationkeskipohjanmaa 

• Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Australia: #massisolationAUS

The Mass Isolation publication is available to purchase exclusively from the Photo Museum Ireland bookshop and is currently sold out.