Megan Doherty is a photographer currently based in Derry, Northern Ireland. In Stoned in Melanchol Megan flips small town banality on its head by turning it into its own alternate universe that celebrates youth, subculture, and freedom.
Artist: https://www.megandoherty.com/
Publisher: Setanta Books
“Days in Derry are long” says Megan “There’s not a whole lot to do except hang out, wasting time”. Making pictures is her form of escape. “I hated how I had tread every street a million times,” explains Doherty of the reason she first picked up the camera. She was “restless, bored, claustrophobic”.
Her friends were her salvation, and the more she photographed, the more people she met along the way. Like all good muses, they brought her into another world, one that was surprising and electric. “Essentially I am imposing my ideas of youth, freedom, beauty and rebellion on to the landscape of small town life.”
Publisher’s Info
Book Specs: Setanta Books | Second Edition (2021) | Rizla style box | 15cm x 30cm | 50 images | 25 double sided A3 folded colour posters | With a foreword by Fiona Rogers of Firecracker/ Webber Gallery. Available here.
Résumé: The photos from my youth look quite different (black & white 😉). But for a moment – looking at these vivid pictures – I could imagine being a part of this puzzling world. Well balanced photos. This raw energy and joy on the one side and the melancholy and fragility of the protagonists on the other side. Using analogue techniques including polaroids, the artist designs a cinematic world in response to the dull everyday life in a suburbian environment. Love at first sight.