[Soft instrumental background music plays. The camera follows Daniel Nelis as he walks through a brightly lit gallery.]
Daniel Nelis:
I'm Daniel Nelis, and I'm the winner of this year's AIB Portrait Prize.
I'm a visual artist, and curator, and art educator, and based in Donegal.
Portraiture, by its nature, is the business of looking at people, and I think that's something that will always be relevant because as human beings, we're drawn towards looking at other people.
[The footage changes to Daniel speaking directly to the camera, with artwork in the background.]
Far too often, the images that we're exposed to of people are these varnished, mediated, impossible standards of people that in my experience, have very little connection with reality.
[The camera then show's Daniel looking at the portrait he created, before showing close-ups of the same portrait.]
And so what I think's beautiful about exhibiting in an exhibition like this, these works invite you to look closer, perhaps even to be a bit more intrusive. I think they bring us more in contact with the real.
The portrait's of my wife, Andrea.
Last year, I came across a portrait of Andrea that I would've done in 2013, 2014, and it was an informative work for me because it was during my final year of art college where I engaged with the figure in as honest a way as possible for me, letting go of any expectations of what I thought somebody else would want me to produce, and really engaging on my own terms.
And it was in that portrait, there was this kind of oddness and intimacy, but also intrusion that kind of emerged, and those have become central things that I kind of seek out in works that I make myself.
The portraits that I gravitate towards most are usually those that things that go beyond the sentimental or beyond pageantry, and kind of still into it, but maybe a bit more uncomfortable to look at as well.
[The camera then shows a series of different paintings bu multiple different artists.]
I think what's amazing about the AIB Portrait Prize in particular, and what separates it, I guess, from some other portrait prizes, is that because it is multidisciplinary and because there's a change in judges every year, I think that kind of prevents you from trying to create work that you think would be suited to that exhibition.
And I think that's, that's a trap I've fallen into probably when I was younger myself, and I think you're best to avoid that as, you know, if at all possible, because the best anybody that can do as an artist, I guess, is to make work that resonates with you and trust that that work then will, will resonate with someone else.
But whenever I got the news, I guess, about winning the prize, I was even still, I'm kind of making sense of that because it was just the most overwhelming and amazing news, particularly given the rich history of figurative artists that have come through here.
But as well as that, it's, it's just been the most amazing kind of means of exposure that I might not have had previously.
And for a practice that's often very isolating and kind of being by yourself, that's it's hard to overstate just how important that is.
Text on screen: Artwork credits.
Triantan Bandearg, Pink Triangle, © Peter Bradley
Sruth an Cheoil, Essence of Flow, © Missy Brinkmeyer
Bruite Ach Fos Faoi Bhlath, Bruised Still Blooming, © Enda Burke
Ionrach, Invasive, © Siobhan Clancy
Becky agus a Coirceoga, Becky with her Bee Hives, © David Creedon
Na Buachailli, The Boys, © Ian Cumberland
Eireannach, Irish, © Rebecca Ruth Ewnetu
Buachaill Bhidi, Biddy Boy, © John Foley
Conaitheoiri Choill Dubh, sraidbhaile d'oibrithe Bhord na Mona a togadh in 1952 agus a dhear Frank Gibney. Owen Denneny, Peadar Cosgrove, Josie Byrne, Ray Lenehan agus Ann Moore, a ghlac pairt sa tionscadal comhoibritheach agus pobail 'toch | Dig' (2024-faoi lathair), 2025, Residents of Coill Dubh Bord na Mona workers village built in 1952 and designed by Frank Gibney, Owen Denneny, Peadar Costgrove, Josie Byrne, Ray Lenehan and Ann Moore, from the collaborative and community engaged project 'Toch | Dig' (2024-present), 2025, © Shane Hynan
Deaglan, Iascaire Loch nEathach, Declan, Lough Neagh Fisherman, © Joe Laverty
Gormacha, Blues, © Miseon Lee
Turas Allamuigh, Field Trip, © Francis Leogue
Timthriall na Beatha, Circle of Life, © Nathan Lowry
Ole Bendik, Ole Bendik, © Kenny McKendry
Strainseir, Here, is a Stranger, © Jillian Murphy
Deireadh an Earraigh, Late Spring, © Daniel Nelis
Fasach, The Waste Land, © Frnacis O'Toole
'Paul Simon' (1972) Leagan Cludaigh, 'Paul Simon' (1972) Cover Version, © Kevin O'Farrell
La 261 Sainnithe sa leaba/Airim uaim sibh, Day 261 Bedbound/I miss ye, © Aine O'Hara
Na Bi Gan Do Chapall Riamh, Never Be Without Your Horse, © Clodagh O'Leary
TAn Phortraid Deiridh, The Final Portrait, © Conor O'Leary
Trasnu, Crossing, © Misaki Pabrook
Sciamhlann Cois Tine, Fireside Beauty Parlour, © Kathy Raftery
Portraid den Ealaiontoir mar Fhear Meanaosta, Portrait Of The Artist As A Middle Aged Man, © Darren Ryan
A Dhia, Ta Suil Agam go dTagann Deireadh Leis, God, I Hope it All Goes Away, © Niamh Swanton
[Closing screen: “Duais Portraid | Portrait Prize".]
