About

Paula T Nolan

NLI/EPA Photographer-in-Residence

2025-2025

Paula T Nolan is a photographer and graphic designer based in Dublin, Ireland. After attending the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), she has worked as a graphic designer, specialising in all areas of design for print, with a speciality in magazines and books.

She has designed many large-format ‘coffee-table’ books, most notably using photographs from the renowned Father Browne SJ Collection. This was a particular inspiration to take up photography herself in 2013

Her years of creating designs for print, coupled with a life-long love of historic and contemporary fine art, meant that she had a well-developed eye for composition before she picked up a camera.

In 2014, her photograph 'Napkins' was purchased by the State Art Collection. Two years later, it was included amongst 82 artworks from the State Art Collection for the ‘Portraits of a Nation’ exhibition in the Farmleigh Gallery. The exhibition included works spanning five centuries from 1631 to 2016 and represented fifty-four artists.

‘Napkins’ was subsequently selected for the 2019/20 Office of Public Works and Northern Ireland Civil Service Collection annual touring exhibition.

In October 2021, Paula exhibited alongside Michael Corrigan in ‘Double Exposure’, in a two-person exhibition with The Paul Kane Gallery. She also exhibited in The Paul Kane Gallery Christmas Exhibition in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Paula’s photograph, 'Not Long Left: Grandfather with Grandsons', was selected for the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) Annual Exhibition 2018; her photograph, ‘Tea & Coffee Kitchen: Manresa Jesuit Novitiate, Birmingham’ was selected for the RHA 2019 Annual Exhibition; a duotone photograph from Project Flotsam/1 was selected for the RHA 2021 Annual Exhibition; ‘Heron on the Tolka’ – a series of heron photos taken in a particular late winter evening light – was selected for the RHA 2022 Annual Exhibition, and ‘Calling Time on Edge Hardware’ was selected for the RHA 2024 Annual Exhibition. 

In 2024 Paula was selected as the inaugural NLI/EPA Photographer-in-Residence, running from April 2024 to May 2025. Her project is titled ‘ReViewing Ireland: A Photo Study of Ireland’s Environment 2024-2025. A selection of up to 500 images from this project will enter the National Library of Ireland Photographic Archives in perpetuity.

In April 2025 she was included in a Paul Kane Gallery group exhibition titled ‘Treasures’.

Agent: The Paul Kane Gallery