Philip Magee: Cultural connections for St Patrick’s Day

Even though Saint Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year, a group of Irish residents in Malaga are making sure that celebrations start early. Dublin-born photographer Philip Magee, who has lived in the city since 2000, has got together with local band Zurrapa to turn La Llave cultural centre in El Palo into a little corner of the emerald isle.

Magee’s short film, appropriately titled Dublín (with the accent over the ‘i’ to keep things Spanish), will be shown for the first time there this evening (Friday 13 March).

Magee, 52, explains that the 20-minute film is a “visual narrative of a journey around Dublin”. The viewer will experience a bus journey around the city, taking in some of its emblematic places like Grafton Street and of course a trip to the pub with some friends: sightseeing without having to leave Malaga, or perhaps even a nod to James Joyce’s classic novel, Ulysses.

In fact, Magee is the photographer for the city’s annual Bloomsday event, which has become a fixed date in the diary for foreign and Spanish fans of the Irish literary figure, every 16 June.

The photographer, who developed his interest in the art form at an early age, joining his secondary school photography club and going on to study the subject at college, says his passion lies in “capturing moments and street photography”.

He’s inspired by the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and says he “can’t leave home” without his camera.

As well as Bloomsday in Malaga, he has also photographed everything from Holy Week to Halloween and everyday scenes on the city’s streets, from people walking their dogs, to tourists studying their mobile phones, perhaps trying to follow Google Maps or read up about a building or monument they’ve stumbled upon.

Philip has also been documenting the rapid change that Malaga city has undergone in the time that he’s been here - he still remembers seeing cars driving up Calle Larios - but says it’s “still a great place to live”.

This isn’t the first exhibition that Philip has been involved in and regularly works with other Malaga-based photographers, including Gordon Haslett and Paul Trevor , both of whom have been involved in the editing of the film to be shown this evening. They have worked together on a number of projects through the Dos Calles association and Philip has had his work shown in a number of places around Malaga.

He says the city needs more places for local artists and photographers to be able to exhibit their work and says that that sentiment is felt by locals that he knows.

He says that while he still goes back to Dublin regularly as his parents and two brothers live there, he has adopted Spanish customs too, such as “eating and going to bed late” and enjoys flamenco and verdiales music.

The film starts at 9pm at La Llave Centro Cultural on Calle Almeria in El Palo and it will be followed by live Irish music by Zurrapa. Another opportunity to see Dos Calles’ work will be on Saturday 4 April at Nereida centro cultural at 8pm.