Artist Profile: Alen MacWeeney
Published January 1, 2017 by Nicole Webb
Alen MacWeeney
b. 1939
“My life in photography has been mostly a self-taught activity of curiosity, in art, writing, music, talking, and love that drives us on.” – Alen MacWeeney
Photographer Alen MacWeeney was born in Dublin, Ireland, at the beginning of World War II. He began working with photography in his teens, earning his first job as a press photographer at The Irish Times at the age of 16.
MacWeeney soon became frustrated with the confines of studio photography and returned to his Dublin home to try his skills at street photography. This period in his life marks the development of what became MacWeeney’s signature style. One of his earliest series, shot with his trusty Leica camera, included Irish travelers, Tinkers, who were semi-nomads. In 2000, these images were turned into a movie, "Traveller," with MacWeeney also serving as one of the directors. Today, he continues to print in his personal studio darkroom and photograph in analog and digital mediums.
Alen MacWeeney, A Workman Looks at Life, Irishtown, Dublin, archival pigment print, 1963, 2021.85.1.
Alen MacWeeney, An Old Man Faces the Demolition of a House, Dublin, archival pigment print, 1963, 2021.85.2.
Alen MacWeeney, Man with a Doll Brooch, Dublin, archival pigment print, 1963, 2021.85.4.