Image credit: Evanna Devine
Artist Talk with Evanna Devine
‘Exploring Antrim and Newtownabbey’ is a series of four photographic commissions and a public photography competition unfolding across the four seasons. Beginning with inspiration from Evanna Devine in spring, the project invites audiences to discover the landscapes, history, and natural and built heritage of Antrim and Newtownabbey through their year-round beauty, ready for the full competition launch in August 2026.
Designed to inspire visitors to look again and explore further, the project celebrates Antrim and Newtownabbey not only as destinations for summer events, but as places of year-round beauty, character and cultural richness. Through photography, ‘Exploring Antrim and Newtownabbey’ encourages audiences to discover the textures, details and histories that shape the borough across the changing seasons.
Heritage and history sit at the heart of the project, not as something distant or fixed, but as something alive in landscape, local memory and everyday experience. As the first chapter in a year-long programme, Devine’s commission opens a broader photographic portrait of Antrim and Newtownabbey, inviting residents and visitors alike to see its places with fresh eyes and return to them throughout the year.
The launch also marks the beginning of a wider public invitation for photographers based in, or visiting, Antrim and Newtownabbey to capture and share their own images of the borough. Opening in August 2026, the next stage of ‘Exploring Antrim and Newtownabbey’ will bring these contributions together as part of a growing celebration of place, heritage and year-round discovery.
This project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
Artist Bio:
Evanna Devine is a photographer from Belfast who graduated with a First-Class Honours degree in Photography from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Her work is driven by a commitment to storytelling and community collaboration, with a focus on underrepresented voices and on creating narratives that engage with communities in meaningful and lasting ways. Through photographic portraiture, her practice explores class, Irish heritage and identity in contemporary Ireland.
Part of the Home and Garden Show Ireland Programme
Dates: 12th, 13th and 14th June
Each day at: 11am, 1pm and 3pm
