States of Colour: Irish and Vietnamese Women after Albert Kahn’s Archives of the Planet - Fast Forward: Women in Photography | Tate Modern | London, 6-7 November 2015

In November 2015 Tate Modern, The University for the Creative Arts, and UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) (at London College of In November 2015 Tate Modern, The University for the Creative Arts, and UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) (at London College of Communication, UAL) organised a conference, Fast Forward: Women in Photography at Tate Modern. Greaney’s paper was selected from 250 international abstracts submitted, with only 15 selected to speak. The conference itself was sold out and was the first of its kind held at Tate. This two-day conference explored the complex and dynamic evolution of the history of women in photography, from early commercial practices, to the impact of World War II on women and their work, to reframing the role of the archive. Considering both national and international discussions about women in the history of photography, this event presented some of the latest research and debates in the field.

Within this context Greaney’s conference paper builds upon and expands her practice-based photographic research ‘Street Flower’, by contextualising this within the historical Paris based photographic archive of Albert Kahn. On the eve of the 1916 rising’s 100-year anniversary the paper served to explore the historical representation of Irish women between states, shrouded in the iconography of colour and dress. On the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, such images of Irish women were posited against photographic representations of Vietnamese women, existing within different states, at specific points during the same 100-year period. The research involves investigation of over 2000 previously unseen images from the archive. Those images previously unselected for publication reveal new insights into the subject’s photographed as well as the attitudes of the relevant photographers, editors and audiences - from the dates of creation in the early 20th century up to contemporary exhibition and publication. The paper uses Greaney’s own photographic works as part of this investigation. In drawing out these points of connection the research creates significant new perspectives and enhances understanding of the camera's ability to both conceal and reveal, within the context of contested histories, identities and within periods of social, political change and upheaval.