BY SARAH CANTY
HOLLYWOOD photographer Brooke Palmer from Napa Valley in California is preparing for his upcoming art exhibition in Union Hall.
Toronto-based Palmer became a professional photographer in the 80s when he had several assignments to photograph celebrities.
‘One particular magazine cover garnered the attention of a Toronto film production company who asked me to photograph the advertising campaign for a new TV series. This led to the subsequent on-set unit photography I have been doing for over three decades,’ says Palmer.
During the summer of 2016 he was hired as the stills photographer on the iconic Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema feature film It went on to become the highest grossing and most successful horror film of all time.
Since then he has enjoyed photographing hundreds of actors and celebrities. More recently shooting the Netflix show Ginny & Georgia, Prime Video’s Reacher and Hulu’s Emmy-nominated original Hardy Boys.
He has been star struck only once, he told The Southern Star. ‘I was assigned to photograph Sir Elton John with the cast of a film I was to begin work on called It’s A Boy Girl Thing.
‘Through a series of unplanned events I found myself alone with Elton John in his backstage changing room. When Elton shook my hand, I made a feeble attempt to say hello that even I didn’t understand! I have always been a huge Elton John fan.’
But as much as he enjoys photography, Palmer identifies more as a painter. He has been painting since the 90s and has created a collection of abstract expressionist paintings specifically for local promoter Inanna Modern that will be on display this month.
Although Palmer won’t be here for the exhibition, he will visit Skibbereen at a later date for a solo show.
‘His work as one of the film industries most desired still photographers, is inevitably intertwined with his parallel career as a creative artist,’ says Holger Smyth, director of Inanna Modern.
Inanna Modern is a new subdivision of Inanna Rare Books headquartered in Skibbereen. ‘We aim to highlight the very fact that West Cork is a tapestry of people from abroad, who bring their hopes and minds and creativity to this small West Cork refuge,’ said Holger.
Art work will be shown on their specialist website and at specially-curated exhibitions throughout Ireland, Scotland, England, and mainland Europe.
The inaugural Inanna Modern exhibition will be open every day from May 7th to 27th in Cnoc Búi Art Centre in Union Hall, featuring Brooke Palmer (Canada), Nicola J Smyth (Scotland), Jim Wilson (Scotland), and Evelyn Street (West Cork). More information can be found at www.inannamodern.com.
