Willie Doherty

Willie Doherty (born 1959) is an artist from Northern Ireland, who has mainly worked in photography and video. He has twice been a Turner Prize nominee.

Life and work

Doherty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and was educated at St Columb's College, Derry. From 1978 to 1981 he studied at Ulster Polytechnic in Belfast. As a child, he witnessed Bloody Sunday in Derry, Aidan Dunne wrote in The Irish Times that Doherty has a "big international reputation" and that his exhibition in June 2013 at Art Basel had been "impressive".

National Museums Northern Ireland's Curator of Fine Art, Anne Stewart, said, "The Ulster Museum has long admired Willie Doherty, in particular the profoundly affecting ways in which his work explores themes of identity, territoriality and surveillance. His work frequently involves the layering of text and image, which creates a sense of ambiguity and plays on the viewer's prejudices and assumptions.” Tate, London The Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh The Moderna Museet, Stockholm Kiasma, Helsinki De Appel, Amsterdam