Joanne O'Brien
Joanne O'Brien is an Irish portraiture and documentary photographer, living in the UK. She was a member of the Format photographic agency and her work is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Joanne O'Brien
- Occupation
- photographer
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Joanne O'Brien is an Irish portraiture and documentary photographer, living in the UK. She was a member of the Format photographic agency and her work is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
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wikidata · Q137216584 · wikipedia · Joanne O'Brien
In this article
Life and work
Life and work
O'Brien grew up in Ireland and studied history in Dublin. She settled in London in the late 1970s and is a self-taught photographer. In 1984, she was a founder member of Format, the UK's first women's photographic agency. In the 1980s, O'Brien extensively recorded protests against nuclear weapons at RAF Greenham Common.
Zines with contributions by O'Brien
Zines with contributions by O'Brien
• Format Photographers — Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp 1982–85. Southport: Café Royal, 2023. Edited by Craig Atkinson.
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
• Staying on: Immigrant Communities in London, The Photographers' Gallery, London, November 1984 – January 1985 • Format Photography Agency 1983 – 2003, National Portrait Gallery, London, January–August 2010 • Photographing Protest: Resistance through a Feminist Lens, Four Corners Gallery, London, March–May 2022 • Protest! Photography, Activism and Social Change in Ireland, Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin, May–June, 2022 • Re/Sisters: a Lens on Gender and Ecology, Barbican Art Gallery, London, October 2023–January 2024 • Women in Revolt!, Tate Britain, London, November 2023 – April 2024, and toured to National Galleries of Scotland, 2024, and The Whitworth, Manchester, 2025 • Look back to look forward: 50 Years of the Irish in Britain, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin, 2024 • The 80s: Photographing Britain, Tate Britain, London, November 2024–May 2025
Publications by O'Brien
Publications by O'Brien
• A Matter of Minutes, the Enduring Legacy of Bloody Sunday. Merlin, 2002.. Photographs and interviews.
Publications with others
Publications with others
• Across The Water, Irish Women's Lives in Britain. New York: Little, Brown, 1988. Co-authored with Mary Lennon and Marie McAdam..
Publications with contributions by O'Brien
Publications with contributions by O'Brien
• Defending Hope, Despatches from the Frontline in Palestine and Israel. Veritas, 2018. Edited by Eoin Murray and James Mehigan..
Collections
Collections
O'Brien's work is held in the following permanent collections: • Bishopsgate Institute, London (part of the Format archive) • National Portrait Gallery, London
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Joanne O'Brien”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q137216584: Joanne O'Brien
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Editorial Photographers UK - Tony Blair and banana – Joanne O'Brien, 2007. www.epuk.org.
- 2.Format Photographers Agency. Bishopsgate Institute. 2025-08-28.
- 3.Format Photographers women's co-operative. Photoworks. 2023-12-15.
- 4.Gilbert, Sarah. Photographing protest: resistance through a feminist lens – in pictures. The Guardian. 2022-03-08. 0261-3077.
- 5.Staying on: Immigrant Communities in London. thephotographersgallery.org.uk.
- 6.Format Photography Agency 1983 – 2003. National Portrait Gallery.
- 7.Capturing six decades of protest in Ireland: 'It's important to document these moments. Otherwise we're doomed to repeat history'. Irish Independent. 2022-04-16.
- 8.In The Picture: PROTEST! at the Gallery Of Photography. RTE. 2022-05-31.
- 9.RE / SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology. www.barbican.org.uk.
- 10.Women in revolt! Art and activism in the UK 1970 – 1990.
- 11.Home. Looking Back to Look Forward Irish in Britain.
- 12.Dench, Peter. 80s Britain: landmark exhibition presents pivotal moment in photography. Amateur Photographer. 2024-11-23.
- 13.Format photographers agency.
- 14.Joanne O'Brien. National Portrait Gallery.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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