All at Once Collapsing Together, Caoimhín Gaffney

All at Once Collapsing Together is a monograph of Caoimhín Gaffney’s work across film, photography, and writing, which uses fiction to imagine new ways of relating to the natural world. Published in 2025 by Butler Gallery, and designed by Alex Synge, All at Once Collapsing Together encapsulates and translates the the various elements of Gaffney’s work into book form, with the book being an integral part of the project from its inception.

Medium-format photographs capture diverse colour in the Irish landscape and try to reflect the respite it offers us- but what remains unphotographable is the decline in certain bird populations. An image of Ireland’s lagest lake acts as a memory: being taken in 2022, before the lake’s ecosystems collapse was visible. Speaking with - and against - the images are text pieces in the form of poetry and short stories. These reflect on the relief from trauma that immersion in the natural environment can bring but, because it is in distress itself, questions are raised for the protagonists about their sense of self and their place in the ecosystem. In the film, images and text unfurl across the two screens with fragmented depictions of the human figure trying to become part of the ecosystem again.

Exhibited text pieces were re-designed to work within the book’s framing, and the cadence of the two-screen film is visualised across still images with the script formatted as it is performed and spoken. Context and reflection on the work is provided in an introduction by Anna O'Sullivan, Director and Chief Curator of the Butler Gallery, and an essay by writer, curator and art historian Pádraic E. Moore.

Published as part of an Arts Council national touring exhibition in Ireland, which travelled to the Highlanes Gallery and Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre. It is the artist’s second monograph, with Unseen by my Open Eyes published by Black Dog London in 2017.

Published by Butler Gallery
Hardcover
96 pages 
220 x 270 mm
ISBN 9781999915810