About

Darek Fortas is a London-based visual artist who graduated with an MA in Fine Art Photography from the Royal College of Art. He has worked with a range of established creative and cultural partners, and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally (LE BAL, Paris, 2018; Bloomberg New Contemporaries, London, 2018, and Newcastle, 2017; RUA RED, Dublin, 2016; The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2022; among others).

His socially engaged lens-based practice has been offering a poetic and uncompromised take on our shared history, heritage, power relationships, and current issues. Through his work, Fortas accentuates the potential of lens-based form as a mode of deconstruction, the role of images in the distribution of power, and the subversive value of a lens-based mode of enquiry.

In 2014, he was awarded the Camera Clara Prize by The Grésigny Foundation in Paris. Fortas was also shortlisted for the MAC International 2014 Art Prize as a part of the MAC International Biennial. He won the Propeller Fine Art Award in 2011 and was shortlisted for The Foam Paul Huf Award (2012) and the BMW Residency Award at Musée Nicéphore Niépce (2018).

His works have been featured in the British Journal of Photography, Irish Arts Review, Source Photographic Review, Uncertain States, and various online photography blogs and magazines.

Fortas’ works are in several public and private collections, including Institut Polonais Paris, Fondation Grésigny, and Pierre Passebon Gallery Paris. In 2018, the UK Government Art Collection acquired work from his ‘Skene’ project.

He is a recipient of the Arts Council England's Developing Your Creative Practice grant and the Arts Council Ireland's Visual Art Project Award.

Education

Royal College of Art, MA Fine Art Photography
Technical University of Dublin, BA (Hons) Photography

Awards

2023/12
Adam Mickiewicz Institute Grant
Warsaw, Poland
2021/01
Developing Your Creative Practice Award, Arts Council England
London, United Kingdom
2016/07
Artful Dodgers & Royal College of Art Graduate Award
London, United Kingdom
2016/04
RUA RED Gallery Solo Exhibition Award
Dublin, Ireland
2015/10
Travel and Training Award, The Arts Council of Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
2015/09
Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation Photography Bursary (shortlisted)
Paris, France
2015/08
Royal College of Art, Fine Art Bursary Award
London, UK
2015/08
Royal College of Art, HEFCE Bursary
London, UK
2014/11
Camera Clara Prize, Foundation Grésigny
Paris, France
2014/09
Adam Mickiewicz Institute Grant
Warsaw, Poland
2014/07
MAC International 2014 Art Prize (shortlisted)
Northern Ireland
2014/03
Royal College of Art, HEFCE Bursary
London, UK
2013/02
Adam Mickiewicz Institute Grant
Warsaw, Poland
2012/11
Visual Art Project Award, Arts Council of Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
2012/11
Culture Ireland, International Culture Programme Grant
Dublin, Ireland
2012/07
PhotoIreland Festival 2012 portfolio review winner
Dublin, Ireland
2012/01
The Foam Paul Huf Award 2012 nominee
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2012/02
2nd Alliance Française Photography Award nominee
Dublin, Ireland
2011/10
Dublin Institute of Technology Medal
Dublin, Ireland
2011/07
Propeller Fine Art Award
Dublin, Ireland

Solo Exhibitions

2016/09
RUA RED, Skene
Dublin, Ireland
2012/07
Coal Story, Now Art Festival, Galeria do Palácio Porto
Porto, Portugal
2012/01
Coal Story, The Copper House Gallery
Dublin, Ireland
2009/11
The View of Photography: After-Party Portraits, The Crow Gallery
Dublin, Ireland

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022/01
‘Intersectional Geographies‘ (Ignacio Acosta, ⁣Xavier Ribas, ⁣Lisa Barnard, ⁣Jacqueline Ennis-Cole, ⁣Miranda Pennell, ⁣Judy Rabinowitz, Price ⁣David, Severn, ⁣Darek Fortas and ⁣Janine Wiedel), Martin Parr Foundation
Bristol, United Kingdom
2021/09
‘Summer Show 2021‘, The Royal Academy of Arts
London, United Kingdom
2018/02
‘En Suspens’, LE BAL
Paris, France
2018/01
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Block 336
London, UK
2017/09
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Newcastle, UK
2015/09
‘Les Gueules Noires de l’Europe’, 9-9 Bis
Oignies, France
2015/03
RCA Secret, Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art
London, United Kingdom
2015/03
‘Focal Point’ (Darek Fortas, Kenji Hirasawa, Christopher Oliver, Joanna Sperryn-Jones, curated by Marek Wolynski)
Unit 24, London, UK
2014/12
Camera Clara Prize Exhibition, Central Dupon Images
Paris, France
2014/10
MAC International Biennial 2014
Belfast, Northern Ireland
2014/05
184th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy
Dublin, Ireland
2013/08
‘Labour and Lockout’ (curated by Helen Carey, participating artists: Darek Fortas, Anthony Haughey, Mark Curran, Jesse Jones, Megs Morley & Tom Flanagan, Seamus Farrell, Deirdre Power, Sean Lynch, Deirdre O’Mahony)
Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland
2013/03
‘FORMAT13 Photography Festival’, The Chocolate Factory
Derby, UK
2012/10
‘In The Black’, The Black Mariah, curated by Matt Packer & The Black Mariah
Cork, Ireland
2012/10
‘Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space’, Photobook Show, Brighton Photo Biennial
UK
2012/09
‘Global Change Personal Stories’, 11th International Photo Festival
Aleppo, Syria
2012/07
‘On Migration’, PhotoIreland Festival, Irish Museum of Contemporary Art
Dublin, Ireland
2011/11
RUA RED, Winter Exhibition
Dublin, Ireland
2011/09
‘What Matters Now?’, Aperture Foundation
New York, USA

Selected Publications

2016/07
British Journal of Photography
London, United Kingdom
2015/09
Irish Arts Review
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
2015/03
L’Oeil de la Photographie
Paris, France
2014/06
Limerick European City of Culture 2014 Catalogue
Limerick, Ireland
2014/05
Royal Hibernian Academy 184th Annual Exhibition Catalogue
Dublin, Ireland
2014/03
SOURCE Photographic Review
Belfast, Northern Ireland
2014/01
FOTO Magazine, text by Grazyna Siedlecka
Warsaw, Poland
2013/08
Working Times, Lockout 1913 commemoration zine
Limerick, Ireland
2012/10
Uncertain States quarterly photography newsprint publication
London, UK
2012/07
Now/Neu Festival 2012 catalogue
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2012/07
PhotoIreland Festival 2012 catalogue
Dublin, Ireland
2012/07
Prism Photography Magazine #06
Dublin, Ireland
2011/09
Irish Arts Review, Autumn Issue
Dublin, Ireland
2011/08
Source Photographic Review, Booklet with Graduate Photography 2011 Focus in Ireland
Belfast, Northern Ireland
2010/09
Intimacy’ (Issue 5), SuperMassiveBlackHole 
Photography Magazine
Dublin, Ireland

Residencies, lecturing and professional experience

2024/10
Founder/Director, Public Matter
London, United Kingdom
2021/02
Artist Residency at Four Corners as a part of London Creative Network
London, United Kingdom
2016/06 – until the present
Founder/Director, IMAGE MADE Agency
London, United Kingdom
2013/08
Member of Panel of Experts at The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, European Commission
Brussels, Belgium
2012/12
Neu/Now Festival, Visual Arts Jury Member (project by ELIA – European League of Institutes of the Arts & European Commission DG Education and Culture)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
2012/10
Visiting Lecturer, Technical University of Dublin, Photography Dept.
Dublin, Ireland
2011/06
Photo Editor, Prism Photography Magazine
Dublin, Ireland
2010/06
Photo Editor, Photo Volume
Dublin, Ireland

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