Fragility and beauty of Lough Neagh visualised in Belfast Photo Festival ‘Biosphere’ edition

Visualising Northern Ireland’s Natural Heritage is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, these new co-curated narratives and photographic works are being showcased and discussed across ten exhibitions and more than twelve events in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland as part of this year’s festival.

Shallow Waters by Joe Laverty, which is on display at Antrim Lough Shore and on digital billboards across Belfast, explores how myth and tradition coexist with the heavy industry surrounding Lough Neagh through a photographic study of its landscape, people and practices.

Supported, inspired, and at times challenged by local communities, academic researchers and journalists, Laverty traced the tensions between cultural heritage and environmental degradation around a body of water facing multiple threats and systemic neglect.

Toby Smith, director of development at Belfast Photo Festival, said: “These five amazing photographers have explored the most important stories across Northern Ireland to address a crucial gap in both awareness and understanding.

“Co-designed, edited and produced with our expert partners this is a rare and urgent collaboration between the arts, conservation and science with an enormous opportunity for lasting societal impact.”

Artist Joe Laverty said: “With Shallow Waters, I am trying to weave a thread of connection between the tradition of the Lough, and the impact of heavy industry and intensive farming which are hugely problematic for the Lough's future.

“I have tried to take a long, slow look at the Lough, photographing around the edges of the issues, to find a quieter truth in amongst people’s stories and the landscape.

“Photography, at its best, is about storytelling and I really believe there is a story worth telling about Lough Neagh.”

Shallow Waters is part of the 2025 Belfast Photo Festival. Until 30th June, the festival is animating public spaces in Belfast and beyond with exhibitions from a host of local and international visual artists, alongside a programme of partner exhibitions, talks, workshops, and screenings.

This year’s festival, which is also supported by Arts Council Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Fluxus, and Alexander Boyd Displays, invites viewers to explore new imagery, commissions, and projects that spark positive change in how we view and inhabit our shared Earth.

Belfast Photo Festival runs from 5–30 June.

For more information, visit www.belfastphotofestival.com.