Daragh Soden is an Irish photographer currently based in the UK. His work deals with universal issues that often affect him personally. His approach to his work places specific, personal experience within the context of universal, contemporary issues using predominantly still images, but also employing the use of moving image, prose and poetry. Soden’s practice could be described as a ‘search for truth’, an honest expression of the way in which the world is experienced by an individual.
About ‘Young Dubliners’:
‘Young Dubliners’ is a celebration of the unique character of Dublin’s youth. During a time of economic struggle in Ireland, a housing shortage in Dublin and austerity measures squeezing public services and domestic budgets, the young people of Ireland’s capital are championed in empowering portraits as they make the transition to adulthood.
These young Dubliners are at a time in their lives when they will make decisions that will affect their futures and may determine the course of their lives. Yet, they are subject to forces beyond their own direct control. Their futures, their fates, are not entirely in their own hands. They have already inherited circumstances of differing fortune and will inherit the positive and negative effects of actions taken by the powers that be.
The subjects of the work are united in their youth, but are divided in Dublin. ‘Young Dubliners’ presents young Dubliners presenting themselves, in their own environments. There is a consistent approach in empowering the subject of each photograph, however the setting of each photograph varies. Around the figure in the foreground, the extent of social division in Dublin is apparent.
