Dónal Talbot is an artist, photographer and educator based in Ireland. Talbot’s work is predominantly based in portraiture, and uses its intimate qualities as a tool to showcase and empower the LGBTQ+ community, through representation in art.
Often employing a soft lens, Talbot’s work hopes to capture his subjects in natural light and unedited backgrounds while interviewing his subject’s in a conversational style, with the hopes of capturing a real and honest depiction of their everyday lives.
Working alongside marginalised communities in his art practice has led Talbot to develop a career in art education. Talbot currently works as a Digital Photography Teacher at YouthReach in Dublin.
Talbot's work has been featured in i-D Magazine, The Face, and exhibited in the Belfast Photo Festival. His work was recently published in the photo book 'New Queer Photography', alongside a selection of 40 other international LGBTQ+ artists.
Talbot completed his BA in Fine Art Media at NCAD and is currently studying his MFA in Photography at Ulster University.
Press
The Future of lgbt Ireland, Straight Up!
i-D Magazine
The Photographers Capturing Ireland through a Queer Lens
Twin Magazine
Come To My Window
i-D Magazine
Seven LGBTQ+ New Yorkers on the city’s queer scene
The Face
Irish queer art campaign 'The Poster Project' in Waterford
GCN.ie
Young photographer rallies Irish artists in 'breathtaking' Waterford Pride campaign
Extra.ie
Exploring queer joy with the Poster Project
District Magazine
Donal Talbot launches breath-taking photography project 'Queer Fighters'
GCN.ie
Body, Bodies, Embodied | Day Magee and Dónal Talbot at 126 Artist-Run Gallery
Visualartists.ie
These 9 Artists are Revolutionising Photography in Ireland
District Magazine
New Queer Photography – an interview with Benjamin Wolbergs
Paper Journals
Awards
Agility Award 2023, Arts Council Ireland
Agility Award 2022, Arts Council Ireland
Exhibitions
NCAD Degree Show’
National College of Art and Design, Dublin, 2017
‘Periodical Review #7’ – RGKSKSRG
Pallas Projects, Dublin, 2017
‘60x60’ – Hen’s Teeth
RDS, Dublin, 2017
‘Pilly Willy’ – ‘Pussys Queer Collective’
Tara Building, Dublin, 2017
‘The Re-appropriation of Sexuality ‘ – Emma Haugh
NCAD Gallery, Dublin, 2017
‘RHA 188th Annual Exhibition’
Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 2018
‘Junior – Upcoming Irish Photographers’
Gallery of Photography, Dublin, 2018
‘Before I Knew What Was Next’
The Connolly Bookstore, Dublin, 2018
‘Halftone Print Fair’
The Library Project, Dublin, 2020
‘And, if we observe the present’ - Belfast Photo Festival
Catalyst Arts, Belfast, 2021
‘The Poster Project’
GOMA, Waterford, 2021
‘PROTEST! - Photography, Activism and Social Change in Ireland’
The Gallery of Photography, Dublin, 2022
‘Taproot Art Auction’
The MART Gallery, Dublin, 2022
‘New Queer Photography’ - Focus on the Margins
F3 – freiraum für fotografie, Berlin, 2022
‘The Rise - In Our Own Image’
D-Light Studios, Dublin, 2022
‘Body, Bodies, Embodied’
126 Gallery, Galway, 2023
‘The Royale Arcade Academy exhibition’
Arcade Studios, Belfast, 2023
'Love, Lust & Freedom'
Kunstmuseum Brandst, Odense, Denmark, 2024
'Curating Activism'
Exhibition for the Fredrick Douglass Week
Ulster University, Belfast, 2024
'Under a Different Light'
MFA Degree show
Belfast Exposed, Belfast, 2025
'Prom Night Portraits'
Showcase at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios
Dublin, Ireland, 2025