Phil Collins

Born in 1970 in Runcorn, England. Works and lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Phil Collins has gained international attention and acclaim for his frank and honest portrayal of individuals affected by the violence of war, political oppression and sectarianism. Using video installations and photography, Collins’s work explores the complexities of political upheaval and the (re)-construction of identities, on both national and individual levels. In works such as britney (2003), palestine (2003), real society (2003), baghdad screen tests (2002), becoming more like us (2002), young serbs (2001), the marches(2000), and how to make a refugee (1999), Collins presents critiques of national, cultural and personal identity that embrace the idiosyncratic complexities often ignored by mainstream media reportage. Collins’s portraits and interviews are at once beautiful, personal and contentious.