Joe Farrell is an Irish painter, photographer and television documentary director.

His work is in the OPW/Irish State Art Collection and in private and institutional collections in Ireland and Canada.

He has directed broadcast documentaries and factual programmes in more than 20 countries including Ethiopia, DR Congo, Kenya, Korea and Jamaica.

I have always been interested in the potential for paint and lens to observe, describe and understand the world in different ways.

My paintings address the fragile, fugitive qualities of memory by recapturing and distilling my experiences in more than twenty countries over almost five decades.

The paintings rely solely on memories of people, places and events. The images are built up from multiple layers or frames of memory. As each frame is attenuated by time and distance, the paintings become enigmatic and abstract. Shifting timescales, viewpoints and perspectives coalesce until a precise image emerges from colour, gesture, surface and line: this is THAT place - THAT time - THAT experience.

My photographic work uses the discipline of classic ‘Street Photography’ to explore contemporary life and culture. In contrast to the paintings, they are discrete chance encounters anchored in the exact 1/250th second when the shutter opens. They demand rapid decisions on timing and framing and there are no second chances.

Irish Arts Review. Summer 2018.

As an artist, Farrell is motivated by a humanistic instinct and his photography and documentary work explores the struggles and achievements of people put under pressure by social and cultural systems which were ostensibly designed to enhance their existence but contrive in effect to frustrate them. Documentary and photography as media are frequently concerned with political advocacy and personal expression. These issues also fall firmly within the remit of painting and it is to Farrell's credit that he moves so effortlessly and seamlessly between all. Farrell's documentaries are stand-alone events. His paintings are parallel statements and are broadly comparable in his use of image manipulation, lyrical depiction, time/space disruption and narrative contrasts. They describe interactions between locations and experiences and seek to enshrine them in memory.
Gerry Walker.

Exhibitions and Selected Broadcast Credits:

2022 Kenny Gallery, Galway. Group Show.
2018 Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely. Painting/Photography/Video. Solo.
2015 Blackbird Gallery. Kilkenny. Group Show.
2013 Eco Eye Environmental Series. Segment Director.
2012 Democratic Republic of the Congo: Leaving the Conflict Behind? Documentary. Director.
2012 Ethiopia: Beyond the Lens of Famine. Documentary. Director.
2012 Eco Eye. Environmental Series. Segment Director.
2011 Eco Eye. Environmental Series. Segment Director.
2010 Kenya: Welcome To My World. Documentary. Director.
2010 Jamaica: Welcome To My World. Documentary. Director.
2009 Korea: Welcome To My World. Documentary. Director.
2009 South Africa: Welcome To My World. Documentary. Director.
2009 Designs For Life. Architecture Documentary Series. Director.
2008 The Embryo War. Science Documentary. Director.
2007 Scope. Science and Technology Factual Series. Director.
2006 Scope. Science and Technology Factual Series. Director.
2005 Sri Lanka Stories, Tsunami Appeal Video. Director.
2005 Scope. Science and Technology Factual Series. Director.
2004 Scope. Science and Technology Factual Series. Director.
2003 The Spire of Dublin. Arts/Architecture Documentary. Director.
2002 No Frontiers. Travel Series. Director.
2001 No Frontiers. Travel Series. Director.
2000 No Frontiers. Travel Series. Director.
1999 No Frontiers. Travel Series. Director.
1998 The Big Move. Feature length Documentary. Director.
1997 Against The Wind. Documentary. Director.
1994 The Children of Lir at St.Patricks Cathedral. Music. Assoc.Producer.
1993 Forest City Gallery. Board Member/ Programme Co-ordinator.
1992 Forest City Gallery. London, Ontario. Between Cultures. Group Show.
1992 Forest City Gallery. Board Member/ Programme Co-ordinator.
1991 k.d lang In Concert. London, England. Assoc. Producer + Set Design.
1991 Town and Country. Music Series. London, England. Assoc. Producer + Set Design.
1991 Rodney Crowell In Concert. London, England. Assoc. Producer + Set Design.
1987 Maison Alcan. Montreal. Group Show.
1987 Artcite. Windsor, Ontario. Freedom ’87. Group Show.
1987 London Regional Art Gallery, Ontario. 40th Annual Group Show.
1987 Forest City Gallery. London Ontario. Group Show.
1987 Temporary City Gallery, London, Ontario. Group Show.
1986 London Regional Art Gallery, Ontario. 39th Annual Group Show.
1986 Ottawa City Hall. Group Show.
1986 John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto. Group Show.
1986 McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario. Group Show.
1985 Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario. Group Show.
1985 Woman Spirit Gallery, London, Ontario. Spectrum. Group Show.
1985 CBC Telefest ’85. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Video.
1985 London Children’s Museum, Ontario. Robotic Installation.
1985 Blyth, Ontario Annual Group Show.
1982-1985 Worked in Commercial Photographic Darkroom. London, Ontario.
1975-1982 Practiced Street/Documentary Photography in Ireland, New York and London, England.

Awards and Nominations:
| Welcome To My World was nominated in Best Factual Programme Category at the 2010 Irish Film and Television Awards.
| University of Windsor. St. Cuthbert’s Award.
| Mackie Cryderman Award.
| Canada College Arts Awards 1986. National Winner.