By Claire Corrigan
Students at Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar, displayed an impressive exhibition at Mullingar Arts Centre last Thursday as part of their transition year programme. The young men had to dig deep to create photos that explored the theme of the effects of drug and alcohol abuse among others.
Photographer Shelley Corcoran has been teaching TY students at the school for six years. “Every year the students complete a project and I do individual shots and group shots with the boys and teach them the basics of photography,” she told Topic.
“This year the class was broken up into two groups -Rice (Edmund Rice the religious patron of the school) and Class Heavy (after James Heavy the patron of the school).
“This is the first year that there has been two TY classes, so the amount of TYs is growing all the time. This year we entered a national competition which focused on alcohol and drug awareness that was run by drugs.ie. The school got an honourable mention for a photograph submitted by Stephen Derham. Eoghan McGuinness received photographer of the year from class Heavy and Milosz Kulakowski won the award for the class Rice.”
Shelly said the students really engaged with the programme, resulting in an array of captivating photos. “Once they mastered the technical aspects of photography, they started to explore the more artistic side of it, like self portraits and silhouettes. The anti drink and drugs competition really allowed them to be quite artistic as well.”
For the competition, the students were given two themes to choose from – how alcohol affects relationships and the the reasons why young people do drugs. “They had to think about the theme and translate it into something visual. I wanted them to really push the boundaries and not just do the same old thing, and you can see by the exhibition that they really did.”
Coláiste Mhuire Principal Malachy Flanagan praised the boys during a speech at Mullingar Arts Centre on Thursday afternoon. “I think it is great that photography is a part of Transition Year. The photos that relate to the competition are very deep, moving and powerful to see. When you look at them, they can wake you up to the world that we live in, and it can even be a bit frightening, but that is what people experience and alcohol and drugs abuse is prevalent in Irish society.”
Ms. Corcoran said that the she was proud to see the boys’ progress throughout the programme. “We went from doing photos that were fun, like perspective shots and silhouettes to something a lot more deep with the drugs and alcohol competition. For the school to get an honourable mention is fantastic and that is all down to your work, ” she said.
