Enda Burke’s photography captures familiar moments in a whimsical explosion of creativity. Enda has a knack for transforming the day-to-day into fantastical narratives that quell the fear we’re living in a banal world. He combines his motifs of kitsch, colour, and Catholic iconography in his portraits, where dreamlike sets come alive in images that are rich in nostalgia and humour. Enda’s portraits entice you to step into this world with him and embrace the overly eccentric.
Based in Galway, Enda says he “started off doing street photography, documenting moments of beauty on the street. That was my first proper delve into photography.” A true observationalist, Enda sought to capture familiar moments in real time, with an emphasis on the unusual or strange. His transition to more portrait based imagery was a direct result of the lockdowns and restrictions that came into full force in 2020. With the pandemic acting as a catalyst for his creativity, he turned to constructing elaborate sets and scenes with his mam and dad at the forefront.
“I needed to get a bit creative, so I started building sets in my house,” Enda says. “I kinda turned the camera on people I saw every day, which were my parents… that’s where set design and a more colourful storyline came into play.”
'String me along' by Enda Burke
A portrait titled, ‘String me along’ depicts Enda’s parents sitting on either side of a turquoise mini fridge having a conversation via tin can phone. Mam flicks a cigarette with an ear pressed up to the can as dad speaks to her on the other side of the string. The fridge door is ajar revealing shelves of Tesco value beer and plastic fish spilling out from the bottom shelf. A statue of the Blessed Mother Mary sits clemently atop the fridge under a neon pink cross adding a sense of stillness and glitzy stoicism. Draped behind the religious symbols are flashy cheetah print curtains. If it sounds eccentric, it’s because it is.
For Enda, storytelling is a crucial element of his work. “Humour is important, and [so is] colour. When I started the sets during lockdown, Covid was obviously gloomy and I wanted to have an antidote to that,” he says. “I just like that my stories are accessible and that people can relate to them. Especially the Irish context.” There’s a sense of familiarity in Enda’s portraits, and at the same time he is able to balance that with a distinctive artistic flare. These two coexisting elements of his photography are what set him apart as an artist and photographer. As his style develops he continually captures his own sense of reality in the four corners of the frame, concocting mesmerising portraits saturated with cultural punchlines.
“I think it’s important to always keep developing in any genre,” says Enda. “Photography is just trying to fit everything into one frame. It’s literal reality.” This development comes from experimenting with different aspects of expression. “I think a good photograph is also like making a good stew. It has different elements.” He continues, “you throw in aesthetics, that's one thing, and you might throw in storytelling, and you might put in something conceptual. And you combine those things, that’s what makes a beautiful photograph for me.”
Enda’s photography is bold and inviting. And despite its unexpected nature, it’s also comforting. Giving us a glimpse of the realities we sense, but rarely see. Enda Burke is opening doors to see things in a new light. And after all, isn’t that what thought provoking art is designed to accomplish?
Portrait of Enda Burke by Ciarán MacChoncarraige
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