Artist Alen MacWeeney

Alen MacWeeney, one of the stars of the contemporary world of photography, presents a series of photographs and a documentary, titled Traveller (2001). Alen MacWeeney was born 1939 in Dublin, Ireland. He came to the United States at the age of twenty-one as assistant to renowned photographer Richard Avedon. MacWeeney soon established himself as a contributor to such journals as the New Yorker, Life, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine. His work has been exhibited widely and he has produced seven books, among them Bloomsbury Reflections, Irish Stone Walls and Fabled Landscapes, and Spaces for Silence. MacWeeney's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the George Eastman House to mention a few. The Spencer Museum of Art owns 31 of his photographs and 15 images from his 1965 Irish series are currently on display. In 2001 MacWeeney co-directed a feature-length Irish documentary titled Traveller, inspired by his direct and ongoing encounters with the Irish Traveller community, as documented in the 1965 material on view in the Museum's 20/21 Gallery. This 84 minute black and white film was broadcasted by the BBC (UK) and RTE (Ireland).