Photo Spread Photography - Beauty - Queerness
Grey Area
Galway raised and now based between Cork and Berlin, Maclaine Black is a photographer, filmmaker and visual artist. Their work focuses mostly on portraiture and events in the techno scene; shot almost exclusively in black and white.
Maclaine is inspired by the beauty of abstraction, skewing the verisimilitude of life. They have worked with some of the biggest DJs in Europe and gained widespread recognition for capturing the underground and illegal rave scene in Cork, seen particularly through their solo exhibition Faoi Thalamh, unveiled last year. Their work has also been showcased in exhibitions including Connection, Abstraction, Distortion, which was shown in Limerick and Dublin; Skin Deep, which explored the tattooed individual; and Faoi Choim na hOíche, a large-scale music and arts production developed as part of Cork Culture Night.
In early 2023, they unveiled a collaborative exhibition I Know The Sun Must Set in Galway, dealing with grief and the grieving process. The year prior, they self-published a body of work titled ANXN, a deeply personal project exploring their own mental health and identity.
Maclaine believes everyone has a story to tell and hopes to document these stories wherever and whenever they appear in our uncertain futures. Self-taught until now, they are moving to Berlin to study filmmaking from September.