Michael Fortune | Artists Biography | Irish Artist's Film Index

Michael Fortune

Artist Biography


Artist's Websites

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Michael Fortune grew up in a family immersed in story, superstition and folk belief in an area known as ‘The Macamores’, an old Gaelic stronghold stretching along the east coast of County Wexford. He completed his BA in Fine Art, specialising in video and performance at Limerick School of Art and Design and his MA in Film and Screenwriting at Dún Laoghaire School of Film.

Working predominantly in film and photography, much of his practice revolves around the collection of material - material which he generates out of the relationships and experiences he develops with the people he encounters. The intimate nature of the relationships with the people and circumstances he encounters, and the subsequent reflective treatment of the material at hand, is a key feature of Fortune's work.

Much of Fortune’s work borrows from the popular conventions of film, home video, snap photography and the printed media and his work can be seen as growing out of a tradition of social documentary and anthropological film. He combines the stand-alone idiosyncrasies of people and incidents in everyday life, with complex and visually careful and contemplative treatments that adeptly handle the aesthetics of repetition, humour, obscurity, strangeness and intimacy.

He has produced an extensive portfolio of collaborative project work which has been developed in partnerships with national organisations such as the National Library of Ireland and the Irish Traditional Music Archive to smaller communities of interest including traditional singing groups, local historic societies and a wide range of individuals and community groups.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards and bursaries for his work, which he presents extensively nationally and internationally in a variety of contexts, ranging from gallery exhibitions and online presentations through to single screen presentations in film and video art festivals. Michael lives at the foot of Mount Leinster with his partner, Aileen Lambert and their three young children.

Sourced from the artist on August 31st 2016

Supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service, the Arts Council of Ireland and Visual Artists Ireland.
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