Outburst is delighted to welcome one of the most vital contemporary queer photographers to Belfast for the first time, in partnership with Ulster University.
Alice O’Malley is known for her portraits of New York’s most notorious downtown personalities. Community of Elsewheres is a queer intersectional space; a circle of celestial elders and underground angels that speak across generations. O’Malley’s subjects are the artists, poets, eccentrics, and visionaries that inhabit the vibrant 21st-century demi-monde of lower Manhattan.
The collection presents a new ecology, infused with ambiguous portrayals of gender and sexuality, and traces community as an elusive concept, defined not by bloodlines or institutions but by what friends do and make together.
O’Malley’s use of an antique view camera, black-and-white film, natural light studios, and makeshift sets creates a dialogue with the historical conventions of portraiture. She cites E.J. Bellocq’s portraits of prostitutes in New Orleans, c. 1917, as the starting point for her own body of work. Her first subjects were performers she knew from legendary New York nightclubs, including Jackie 60, Clit Club, Squeezebox, and Club Casenova and along with this stunning portrait collection, O’Malley presents a digital installation of 90’s new york gay nightlife and activism in the smaller gallery as part of the show.
Alice O’Malley’s photographs have been exhibited internationally and published widely, including The New York Times, Vogue and POP. She teaches at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan and is represented by John Marchant Gallery in Brighton.
Alice O’Malley in Conversation
Join Outburst and Alice O’Malley for a conversation about her work on Friday 10 November at 6 pm in Ulster University’s main gallery. Booking link below.
Photo: Storme Delarverie at the Hotel Chelsea by Alice O’Malley
EVENT INFORMATION:
Age Suitability: 18+
Talk Duration: 60 mins
Gallery Opening Hours: 09:30 – 17:30 Mon-Fri
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