Gillian Hyland creates supernatural staged images, presented as film stills or dramatic moments. Hyland’s unsettling mise-en-scene are full of sex and desire, sadness and nostalgia. Narratives that are psychologically evocative – at once sublimely theatrical yet poignant.

Like Richard Avedon and Guy Bourdin, the mix of fashion and art has challenged us to accept stylised new ideas of femininity and masculinity, innocence and sensuality. Hyland describes herself as an image maker and story teller. Her dramatic photographs are based on her own poems, and depict characters in human dramas and isolated emotional situations. Frozen in time, solitary and vulnerable moments are presented in glorious technicolor and timeless sets.

Encapsulating her memories and emotions in poems she then transforms these into images, offering a new perspective. The imagery plays with our notions of nostalgia, and taps into society’s cultural understanding of feelings and beliefs. The composition of each image suggests a larger narrative within a single moment. The photograph explores Hyland’s sense of self and society and aims to engage and trigger an emotional response from the viewer.

Gillian Hyland is an image maker; she personally composes every aspect of her pictures. Originally from Ireland, Gillian’s career began in publishing, where she worked as a fashion stylist and features writer for a number of well-known national magazines. This led to a move into the television industry, and later into the film industry, where she worked in a variety of roles, including stylist, set designer, and art director.

Since 2007 Gillian has been living in London. This period has seen her create imagery for fashion shoots, commercials and advertising campaigns for a range of high-profile international clients and brands.

This diverse background helped her develop a passion for making images, which evolved into her own distinctive photographic style. Gillian released her first fine art series ‘Words in Sight’ in 2014; since then her photographs have been exhibited around the world and received several awards. The start of 2018 saw the release of her first photography book which was a culmination of several years work.