“Neither Here Nor There” is a phrase that means “irrelevant or of no consequence.”
It also describes O’Hagan’s feeling of being not British but also not entirely Irish – a feeling that will be deepened post-Brexit when the border may be reinstated physically between Northern Ireland (British) and Southern Ireland. In his lecture O’Hagan will talk about this feeling of not quite belonging and how it may be becoming a kind of suspended state that unites many people: refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers but also those excluded from Europe by the new nationalism and the Brexit decision. Though photography, art and writing, he will explore this idea of not/belonging and its consequences with particular reference to his own experience: he grew up during the conflict in Northern Ireland but moved to London, where he has lived longer than in Northern Ireland, but still feels essentially Irish even though he is officially British, like a cultural contradiction – neither here nor there. Perhaps people need to get used to this suspended state of not belonging? Perhaps it is the future if you reject hard nationalism and xenophobia?
Sean O’Hagan writes about photography for the Guardian and the Observer and is also a general feature writer. He was named interviewer of the year in the British press awards in 2003 and was the winner of the 2011 J Dudley Johnston award from the Royal Photographic Society. He has written essays for several photography books including „Everything Was Moving: Photography From the Sixties and Seventies“, „Strange and Familiar“ and „Terra Nostra“ by Mimi Mollica.