Picturing Derry (1985) is a documentary about conflict photography in Derry in the 1980s. Produced for Channel 4’s ‘Eleventh Hour’, it includes interviews with British and Irish photographers and journalists, news editors, collectives and artists. Learning from John Berger’s media-critical approaches, it asks who was producing these photographs, and for what purpose?
To mark National Heritage Week, join us on Tuesday 19 August at 1-2pm in IMMA’s Matheson Creativity Hub for ‘Recording History: On Picturing Derry’, a conversation between the directors of Picturing Derry, Sylvia Stevens and David Fox, chaired and convened by Dr Isobel Harbison. Our guests come together to discuss Picturing Derry, its influences, production and subsequent reception, since its first broadcast in 1985 (Channel 4’s Eleventh Hour: 1982–90). The 57-minute documentary will be viewable on a monitor before and after the discussion (12 & 2pm), and is available to view online.
Recording History (2025–2026) is an oral history research project led by Dr Isobel Harbison comprising of interviews with filmmakers active in the North of Ireland from 1968 to 1990. This is a partnership with Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ulster Museum and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland and is supported by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs: Shared Island Civic Society Fund, the Heritage Council, Ecclesiastical Ireland and the Benefact Group. More details here