Homecoming For Renowned Photographer – Tom Woods
Date: 02-07-2024
Crossmolina Cultural and Civic Centre is delighted will host an exhibition of the work of distinguished photographer, Tom Woods. The exhibition will open in the North Mayo town on July 12th at 7 pm and will run at the centre until Sunday, August 25th, 2024.
Tom Wood was born in Crossmolina in 1951 and moved to England when he was four years old. As a child, and later in his 20s, Tom made several trips to Mayo with his father to visit his extended family in Crossmolina, Co. Mayo. As an art student, when his contemporaries sought a sun holiday, Tom’s only desire was to return to Ireland. With his camera, he was compelled to capture what he saw as the ‘pure magic’ of Ireland in the 1970s and 80s. Tom became, as he says ‘a different person’ when he reached the land of his birth. He felt that the meaning of his life was in Crossmolina. Amongst family and older characters from his father’s generation, he experienced a bitter-sweet Co. Mayo, where a slower pace of life was intertwined with a sense of loss for the people who had to emigrate.
Woods takes his camera everywhere with him. He looks for the surprise in every photo, for things that are not obvious, and the outcome provides the viewer with an exceptional visual narrative. His photos are never documentary in nature however they still capture the raw honesty of the subject.
Woods’s sensitive and close relationship with the place of his birth is never more evident than in photographs he has created in Ireland. Both people and landscape are recorded in a visual way that is difficult to describe in words. While Tom studied art and photography in the UK and produced an enormous body of work, his desire to exhibit it in his birthplace has not been fulfilled - until now.
Crossmolina Cultural and Civic Centre are thrilled to be in a position to host this exhibition. The exhibition is a selection of work spanning a 50-year period and will include some of his best-known photographs and videos. Many of the works have been exhibited around the world, including in the UK, New York, China, Moscow and throughout Europe.
We hope that audiences far and near will visit the exhibition take enjoy this opportunity to experience the work of a world-renowned artist in his hometown.
Exhibition dates and opening times:
Friday 12th July – Sunday 25th August 2024,
Friday – Monday 10am – 4pm.
Civic and Cultural Centre, Mullinmore Street, Crossmolina, Co. Mayo. F26 A0C7