Portadown visual artist Victor Sloan captured decades of life across Northern Ireland

Victor Sloan is showing no sign of slowing down with as vibrant a zest for art as any youngster.
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He is still walking about capturing images sharing his unique perspective of the world and has work included in an exhibition of visual art at the Ulster Museum at present.

Former lecturer has huge standing on international art stage

While many in Portadown will know Victor through his visual art or teaching, some may not be aware of his huge standing in the international art scene and how much his artwork is sought after.

Internationally renowned photographer Victor Sloan with one of his many works on display currently at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.Internationally renowned photographer Victor Sloan with one of his many works on display currently at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
Internationally renowned photographer Victor Sloan with one of his many works on display currently at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Victor’s early life introduced him to the art of photography

Victor, born near Dungannon, Co Tyrone, realised he had a talent for art at primary school in Killyman and he was encouraged. “Some people were good at sport but I was hopeless. I was good at art and won some competitions. Then, as I got older, using my mother’s camera, I won a competition taking a photograph.”

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Kim in Fintona, Co Tyrone. He lived on his own with no electricity or contact with the outside world. However, he had a generator for special occasions like Christmas. Photo by Victor Sloan.Kim in Fintona, Co Tyrone. He lived on his own with no electricity or contact with the outside world. However, he had a generator for special occasions like Christmas. Photo by Victor Sloan.
Kim in Fintona, Co Tyrone. He lived on his own with no electricity or contact with the outside world. However, he had a generator for special occasions like Christmas. Photo by Victor Sloan.

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Victor’s mother Margaret was from Desertmartin and part of a large family steeped in the farming community. His father Isaac was from Armagh City. “There were 10 in his family and they lived in a very small house two up two down. I don’t know how they all fitted in.” Victor moved to Dungannon attending Union Place Primary School and the Royal School. When at the Royal, Victor discovered a talent for music and his mother paid for piano lessons. He recalls his music teacher was blind and used his fingers on top of his students’ fingers to judge how they were playing and to help them find the right note.

“He was very, very good,” said Victor, who played classical music at school concerts, something he dreaded as he is naturally shy.

Victor excelled in art and photography despite obstacles from Co Tyrone Education Committee

Security checkpoint in Lurgan, Co Armagh in 1974. Photo by Portadown man Victor Sloan who was an art  teacher and photographer in Lurgan Technical College who snapped many pictures of life throughout the decades.Security checkpoint in Lurgan, Co Armagh in 1974. Photo by Portadown man Victor Sloan who was an art  teacher and photographer in Lurgan Technical College who snapped many pictures of life throughout the decades.
Security checkpoint in Lurgan, Co Armagh in 1974. Photo by Portadown man Victor Sloan who was an art teacher and photographer in Lurgan Technical College who snapped many pictures of life throughout the decades.

Victor attained his Senior Certificate, ‘A’ Levels and also a County Scholarship. “There were only about five people in my year that got County scholarships,” he said, explaining they were rarely given and he felt very lucky as it meant he could go to university.

He qualified in Fine Art (Painting) at Belfast College of Art. “I was accepted into the London School of Film Making in 1968 but the County Tyrone Education Committee wouldn’t give me a grant because they said it wasn’t connected to art.” So Victor couldn’t go. He then applied for Leeds College of Art. “It was very progressive at that time,” said Victor, explaining they were very keen on performance art or ‘happenings’ as it was called then.

He was then sent to Bradford for teacher training which was ‘tough’ as the boys were very ‘challenging’.

“It was very good training when I think back on it,” he admitted.

Portadown, Co Armagh in the early 80s by Victor Sloan.Portadown, Co Armagh in the early 80s by Victor Sloan.
Portadown, Co Armagh in the early 80s by Victor Sloan.

Returning home to teach

He returned home after his mother sent him a clipping from the Belfast Telegraph advertising for an art teacher in Lurgan Tech. He applied and got it. “I was there for 37 years,” he said. “I must have liked it or I wouldn’t have stayed! When I started I was the only full time art teacher there so I was in charge and then over the years I expanded the department and we got more and more lecturers in.”

We made inquiries to get BTech Art and Design into the province,” said Victor. The college went on to become an important centre for art and design.

Victor is still in touch with many of his students. “I keep meeting them all the time,” he chuckles. “What scares me is some of them look almost as old as me. I was 24 when I started to teach. Some of the students were just a few years younger than me.”

Living in Portadown and working in Lurgan Tech during the height of the Troubles

Victor says he was happy living in Portadown. When he got married to Joy (a nurse in the hospital) in 1972, they moved initially to Westacres, Craigavon. “Of course, that was when the Troubles were at their peak. The army was stationed there at the back of Westacres and there were barracks across from Lurgan Tech.”

"Shopping Centre, Craigavon (Punk)", Giclée print, 50.8 x 36.5cm, 1985. From my 'Drift' exhibition in the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge in 2014. Image © Victor Sloan."Shopping Centre, Craigavon (Punk)", Giclée print, 50.8 x 36.5cm, 1985. From my 'Drift' exhibition in the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge in 2014. Image © Victor Sloan.
"Shopping Centre, Craigavon (Punk)", Giclée print, 50.8 x 36.5cm, 1985. From my 'Drift' exhibition in the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge in 2014. Image © Victor Sloan.

Victor recalled sending the students out to take photographs with the school cameras and sometimes they came back without the cameras as the army had taken the camera or film and Victor had to go and get the camera back.

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Dark room inspirations

Victor first got interested in photography when he was a young teenager at the Royal School in Dungannon and decided to set up a dark room under the stairs at home. “I bought chemicals, fix and developer from the chemist and three trays for them. I developed my film and made prints. “I love the processing side of it, in the darkroom experimenting.”

“At the art college, they didn’t consider photography art. My battle was to make photography accepted as an art form.”

He has certainly reimagined the world of photography. Now some of his visual art may start as a photograph but with Victor’s artistic flair, dyes and paint, he has created the most amazing images. He even has had some help from ice and snow after a creative evening outside with some masking fluid, dyes and photographs. “It’s all the things I have done with painting and drawing, combined with photography,” he explained.

Visual art is commentary on political, social and cultural aspects of Northern Ireland

Victor is best known for his works commenting on various political, social and cultural aspects of Northern Ireland. He also uses video, etching and screen-printing.

The first series Victor did was the ‘Zoo’ series when he went with Joy and his two sons to Belfast Zoo. He brought a camera to take some family snaps, but he ended up taking a different, more troubled and troubling kind of photograph. He found himself standing looking in sadness and dismay at the chimpanzees trapped behind a pane of scratched, scarred, battered Perspex, its cloudy surface smeared with ice cream and marked by graffiti.

Vietnamese Boat People in Craigavon

In 1979 the Vietnamese Boat People came to live in Craigavon. Victor befriended Ka Fue Lay, a teenager who spoke English and introduced him to his family and other people who had arrived from Vietnam. From that encounter, he did a series on the Vietnamese Boat People in Craigavon which superbly depicts the reality of its time.

Since then he has met Ka Fue Lay again in Salisbury where he is now working and has a family. The pair united to create a video remembering Ka Fue’s experiences and time in Vietnam and Craigavon.

Drumcree, Craigavon, Sham Fights and Drumming

These are just a couple of his many series which have explored places such as ‘Craigavon’ ‘Drumcree’ ‘Portadown’ as well as events such as the ‘Sham Fight’ ‘Drumming’ ‘The Baron’ and many more.

Victor has exhibited his visual art across the world

Victor’s membership cards have included the Artists’ Association of Ireland, the Association of Art and Design Education, the National Association for Teachers in Further and Higher Education.

He is a Senior Academician of the Royal Photographic Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a past winner of the RUA’s Gold Medal and the Connor Prize. In 2002 Victor Sloan was awarded an MBE.

Victor Sloan has exhibited widely throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia.

His work is to be found in numerous important private and public collections worldwide.

His artwork can be seen in the exhibition “Against The Image: Photography. Media. Manipulation” at the Ulster Museum in Belfast until 30 October 2022.

For more information go to www.victorsloan.com