Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Joshua Sullivan 

 
BA [Hons] Photography

Joshua Sullivan is a visual artist specialising in lens based media, working and living in Dublin. Their work explores personal and social mythologies that exist under the surface of everyday life: belief, the supernatural, rumours and secrecy. Utilising analogue photographic practices, their images are paired with their own writings and the words of those they photograph to create a story that aims to create conversations about these mythologies we don't always notice.

Not A Soul Will Hear

We fear secrets. They hold a power over us, a dread of what might happen if one were to come out. Just one slip could change the course of your life, those few whispered words changing someone's perception of you. It is only after the secret is revealed that it loses its sway over you. Yet we are also fascinated by them, seeking them out and collecting them as ammunition and collateral. By collecting and displaying these secrets anonymously, written down and hidden in envelopes till now with no way to discern who gave which, puts them in a purgatory state. Inert on display, surgically removed from their position of power. Yet volatile through their anonymity, waiting for the chance to strike. Their presence makes us nervous. Only by opening the envelope will we see the power they still have.