In partnership with the British Journal of Photography and Nikon, PhotoIreland presents Female in Focus exhibition at the International Centre for the Image.

The exhibition brings together the two series winners, Laetitia Vançon’s The Other Battlefields and Giya Makondo-Wills’ New Scramble, alongside 21 single-image winners responding to this year’s theme, On the Cusp. Together, the works explore lives and landscapes at moments of change.

Selected from thousands of outstanding submissions by an international jury, this year’s winners have brought the theme to life through poignant and thought-provoking imagery. The work has previously been exhibited at 1014 Gallery, London and now comes to Dublin to the International Centre for the Image.

Series Winner: Giya Makondo-Wills, New Scramble

Giya Makondo-Wills’ New Scramble examines a different kind of turning point: the rapid expansion of data centres across South Africa and what the artist describes as a modern “scramble” for Africa. Predominantly set in Johannesburg, with work extending into the Limpopo and Cape provinces, the project considers how patterns of extraction historically tied to land and minerals may now be replicated through data infrastructure.

Layering evocative imagery with personal letters to her grandmother, Makondo-Wills delves into the concepts of ownership, memory and communication in the digital age.

Data centres are vast facilities housing servers that power cloud services, streaming and AI, and they demand immense energy and water resources, raising questions about sustainability and equity.

Through portraits, landscapes and metaphorical imagery, New Scramble reflects on how stories travel, from oral traditions to fibre-optic cables beneath the sea, and what it means to control the channels through which culture and identity are transmitted.

“How we communicate is changing — if we don’t own the channels we use to communicate, we don’t own the stories, language, identity, culture,” says the artist. “What are the implications of this in 100 or 200 years? Could it erase our history, culture?”

Since 2010, PhotoIreland has been an arts organisation supporting photography and the visual arts, dedicated to stimulating a critical dialogue around photography in Ireland and to internationally promoting the work of Irish-based artists. PhotoIreland is a key constituent of the arts and culture sector in Ireland, working to ensure local audiences benefit from a healthy arts ecosystem and providing frequent professional development opportunities to artists.

Best known for its annual event in Dublin, the PhotoIreland Festival, the organisation enjoys today a diverse portfolio of projects that range from events such as print and book fairs to running a charismatic art bookshop in buzzing Temple Bar, producing the photography publication OVER Journal, running artists’ residencies, and much more. Beyond Ireland, the organisation has developed constructive channels with a strong network of organisations worldwide, most relevantly through Creative Europe co-funded platforms such as FUTURES.

The International Centre for the Image is a groundbreaking cultural institution in Dublin’s Docklands, launched by PhotoIreland with support from Kennedy Wilson. It redefines the role of image-making in contemporary society—both still and moving—and connects Ireland’s visual arts scene with global artistic discourse. Officially launched in July 2025 at the Coopers Cross campus, the Centre marks a new milestone for cultural partnership in Ireland.

This ecologically mindful, purpose-built venue consolidates over 15 years of PhotoIreland’s initiatives into one dynamic home. It is informed by values of equality, fairness, and representation—avoiding the limitations of traditional museum models.

The centre’s mission is informed by PhotoIreland’s three strategic pillars:
● Artists – nurturing artistic development through studio spaces, production support, and residencies, in addition to public-facing endeavours.
● Artform – embracing the ever-expanding boundaries of photographic and image-based practices, inclusive of video, installation, VR, artists’ books, and more.
● Audiences – engaging local and international visitors through ambitious exhibitions, research, learning, and public programming.