Kevin Gaffney: Unseen by My Open Eyes

Softcover | 17.78 x 1.27 x 23.5 cm | 96 pp

Black Dog Publishing | 2017 | 9781911164128

Featuring four films by the young Irish filmmaker Kevin Gaffney, Unseen By My Open Eyes is the first publication on the artist’s work, exploring the psychological landscapes he devises to explore the construction, projection and manipulation of identity.

Within the book, Gaffney s films are presented through a series of richly illustrated sections, providing an excellent insight into the artist’s methodologies. Subjects range from daily life in Iran; selfhood and military conscription in Taiwan; geographic, political and emotional separations in South Korea, with characters imagining what the moon looks like from North Korea; and food consumption in a self-sustaining militarised Ireland of the near future where climate change has benefited agricultural production.

The book features English scripts of the four films, with an annex compiling the scripts in Korean, Chinese, Persian and Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic). Gaffney s works are contextualised through an accompanying essay by Irish critic Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith.