Art and contemporary Irish emigrants: Aesthetics and networks of affect in David Monahan’s ‘Leaving Dublin’

Photographer David Monahan’s Leaving Dublin serves as a lens for examining the roles played by networks of affect and aesthetics in the contemporary Irish experience of migration. This article explores the series from the perspective of Actor-Network Theory. I will consider how the Internet has changed both experiences of migration and the creation and distribution of art by altering networks of affect. I will also discuss the role contemporary art plays in these networks, serving as a nexus between personal and public experiences of migration.