FathoM Ryan Allen

Ryan Allen’s mother had multiple sclerosis from before he was born. He never knew any different, other than knowing her as a sick person and his father as her carer. FathoM is a visual diary, exploring his fear of transience in response to witnessing the body’s vulnerability. The slow deterioration caused by the illness produced an acute awareness in him of how fragile people are: it’s like he is waiting for the past to repeat itself.

He began thinking about the strain of the demands on family carers. His father had to be both parents to his brother and him, with an unquantifiable impact on their experience of growing up into men.

He gradually pieced together intuitive imagery that began to materialise this sense of loss and a malaise about the body. By recollecting family experiences through the camera, he contemplates the mystery of his lost relationship with his mother. He remembers the beauty and fear in the undervalued work of caring that his father carried out with strength and devotion.
(Source: https://www.thelibraryproject.ie/collections/tlp-editions/products/fathom-ryan-allen?_pos=1&_sid=ec5fcc59f&_ss=r)

About the Artist
Ryan Allen is a visual artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His inspiration derives from the human condition and unrecognised behaviours that are produced by neglected past experiences. He creates images that portray suggestive and metaphorical qualities, containing messages or conveying something visceral to evoke a response from the viewer. He tends to look at himself and his own experiences as he approaches new projects. This can feel daunting and lonely as the majority of the work is personal; it allows him to challenge the convincing sense of loneliness as the viewer often recognises aspects of themselves in the images. The camera is used as a tool to produce systematic and intuitive imagery, allowing these methods to guide and manifest his visual language. Much of his photographic aesthetic was implemented through his interest in cinema, exploring colour and light that contribute to the atmospheric attributes.

Ryan has finished his Bachelor of Arts at Ulster University, achieving a first-class honours in Photography with Video in July 2022, and has recently graduated from one year of international studies at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, situated in Budapest. He was awarded a place on the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ executive Dean’s List for his academic year of 2018–2019. Ryan became one of five recipients of the inaugural RADAR Research and Development Artist Residency for PhotoIreland. He joined the 2023 Futures Platform as one of five Irish artists, culminating in an annual networking event at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Centre. After one year, Ryan has recently become Chairperson at Platform Arts Belfast, where he has developed a passion for curation by successfully curating several major solo and group shows.
https://ryanbenjaminallen.com/
(Source: https://ryanbenjaminallen.com/about-1)

About the Publisher
PhotoIreland grows the reputation of Irish artists globally through a 360 degree support system and platform for contemporary photography, activated through a diversity of projects. These include events such as PhotoIreland Festival and Halftone print fair amongst others; resources such as the PhotoIreland Collection, a specialised research library of photobooks, and Ireland’s Art Bookshop, The Library Project; via publishing with projects such as OVER Journal and TLP Editions; professional development support through networking and consultancy opportunities; and empowering early and mid-career photographers via our international partnerships, most relevantly through Creative Europe co-funded platforms such as FUTURES and Parallel.
https://photoireland.org/
(Source: https://photoireland.org/about-photoireland/)