Photographer Ross O’Callaghan reacted against outdate tropes about Irishmen with a unique photographic project challenging Irish stereotypes, launched in partnership with sponsor Tourism Ireland and Irish creative agency The Brill Building.
O’Callaghan’s Paddy Irishman series is a not-for-profit visual arts project designed to challenge preconceptions of what an Irish Man is or looks like. O’Callaghan created a photographic project centred around men in Ireland with the name Paddy, Pat or Pádraig and documented their stories, in a bid to challenge historical stereotypes about Ireland and reframe the often derogatory pejorative of ‘Paddy’. O’Callaghan’s unique series of portraits tells a visual story of contemporary Irish men with the name Paddy, Pat or Pádraig and presents a new narrative of contemporary Ireland. The Paddy Irishman Project was originally launched in 2023 in New York to much critical acclaim. By securing a landmark central Manhattan location at the invitation of the city of New York (DOT) ARTerventions programme, Paddy Irishman became the first Irish visual arts showcase in the public art space at Pershing Square 42nd Street with the Grand Central Partnership.
Using almost every creative discipline from projections, exhibition build, PR, social and ambient immersive tech, the New York launch with the artist’s partners at creative agency The Brill Building is the most successful debut of an Irish visual arts project in the US for many years with impact seen around the world. Listed as Time Out’s ‘Best Things To Do In New York for St. Patrick’s Day’, it achieved a huge 831 million media impressions, and the series of photographs achieved coverage nationally and internationally in publications including the New York Times, CBS, NDC, BBC World and The Guardian.
Ross O’Callaghan: “My idea was always to take a far-reaching, affectionate and curious look at the depth and breadth of the Irish male and their experiences, while challenging a stereotype that has followed us for generations.”
O’Callaghan’s work is documentary style in principle. He meets people and discovers their stories, interpretating them asa record of time, place, and heritage. His photography practice is informed by over three decades experience as anaward-winning Director of Photography across film, television, and commercial formats, specializing in documentary, reality television, sports, and adventure filming.
The launch for photographer O’Callaghan’s photographic series with sponsor Tourism Ireland recently took home two top European awards for exhibition sponsorship and integrated arts marketing at the EACA IMPACT Awards. The Paddy Irishman project won the only Gold award for Experiential/ Sponsorship and a Silver for Integrated Activation and Promotions.
The success of the Paddy Irishman project at the EACA IMPACT Awards completes an incredible run of awards recognition since its initial call out for participants in 2021 to the US launch in March 2023 and multiple national and European shortlists and awards since.
The project launch was a unique partnership between O’Callaghan and Irish creative agency The Brill Building, led by CEO Roisin Keown as Creative Producer and Creative Lead Peter Snodden as Art and Installation Director.
Commenting on the EACA IMPACT Awards O’Callaghan said: “This is an incredible endorsement for the ongoing work of the Paddy Irishman Project. We believe this is important work – to challenge enduring stereotypes about Ireland and the Irish around the world and to celebrate in a positive way the lived history of our island through the stories of our people. We appreciate the support Tourism Ireland have given us, to launch at the scale and impact the project and our Paddies deserve and with this further international recognition we get to continue bringing this new narrative of Ireland to new audiences.”
The 2024 IMPACT Awards from The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) and its IMPACT Council celebrate outstanding achievements in Interactive Marketing, Promotional Marketing and Brand Activation. The winning agencies were selected after two rounds of judging in a European competition of the best campaigns selected at the national level selected 25 leading industry professionals across Europe across Europe.
