If it hadn’t rained

The Willie Carson Archive

Derry/Londonderry
Artist: Michael McGinley
Collaboration with: Mary Carson & Locky Morris
Dry Collodion, C-Type, Giclee, variable dimensions
2023 — 2024

Willie Carson was a freelance photo journalist in Derry, N-Ireland.
His documenting of 'The Troubles' led to his work being published internationally. The body of photographic evidence that Willie generated thoughout this period was enormous and only a small percentage of it found its way into journalistic use at the time. His work offers a rich archive of Derry life which this project aims to revisit and reimagine.

“Never before has an age been so informed about itself, if being informed means having an image of objects...Never before has a period known so little about itself.“ Siegfried Kracauer, 1927

‘If it hadn’t rained’ invites us to rethink the idea of photography. Clearly what photography is or isn't, has become a broad and complex cultural concern. Rich photographic archives, like those of Derry documentarian Willie Carson, are yet to be creatively explored fully through the elision of computer vision and human agency.

We find ourselves at the crossroads of crisis and opportunity. The vast collections serve as a reminder of our histories and the biases woven into our cultural memory, while simultaneously providing a critical foundation for navigating the rapidly evolving field of computer vision.

The earliest of these forms was the pinhole camera, which was more “found” than invented. It morphed into the optical camera obscura, was reborn as chemical photography, migrated into literature and painting, and lives on in a digital form. It will not end until we do.

The miracle of analogy, or, The history of photography / Kaja Silverman. 2015

If It Hadn’t Rained

Work

Long term Field Variations 2023 Giclee Various Dimensions

Long term Field Variations
2023
Giclee Various Dimensions