Seán Hillen
Born in Newry, Hillen attended the Belfast City College where he studied documentary photography before going to the London College of Printing where he completed a Media Degree course. It was here that he experimented with his first photomontages that were mainly based on the conflict in Northern Ireland. He received considerable recognition for this work with the Imperial War Museum buying three pieces for their permanent collection. In the late 1980s he attended the Slade School of Art and was offered a teaching post there but instead decided to settle in Dublin where he still lives. Irelantis, to which this picture belongs, is a series of works that Hillen did during the 1990s using fragments of postcards and other objects to create a fantastic and satirical other world. He has held regular solo exhibitions in both Ireland and the UK and his work is in the collections of the OPW, BBC Television and Newry County Council. www.whytes.ie
