Stunning photography exhibition mixes War of Independence veterans with Syrian refugees
Part of the Seamus Murphy exhibition in Thurles, L-R: Dan Bally Keating and John Ryan.
Seamus Murphy is no stranger to the unexpected, having worked in war zones from Gaza to Syria and covered assignments such as the drug wars in Mexico and the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. The Irish photographer, however, wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when he knocked on the door of John Ryan’s home in Co Tipperary. It was 1998, and Murphy was there to photograph Ryan, then 105-years-old, as part of a project documenting IRA veterans from the War of Independence.
“When I knocked on the door, I didn’t know what to expect, was he going to be in bed, or in a wheelchair, was he even going to be able to answer the door? This guy answered the door and looked at me. I said I’m here to see John Ryan and he said, ‘yes, that’s me’. He was very spry. He was holding a music box, there was a dog running around at his feet, and he turned around, walked back into the kitchen, and sat down by the fire. His wife was there, swatting flies, and he started playing the music box.”
