Tóchar Midlands Wetland Restoration, in partnership with Photo Museum Ireland, has announced Photographer Evanna Devine as the commissioned artist for their upcoming ‘Women in Nature’ national photography campaign celebrating female leaders driving nature restoration and climate action across Ireland.
For the Women in Nature art commission, Evanna will create a new landmark series of portraits of women working on the frontline of Ireland’s biodiversity and climate challenges, from peatland restoration and regenerative farming to river protection, environmental education, and community-led environmental action.
Twelve participants will shortly be announced to reflect the breadth of restoration work happening across Ireland today, as well as the diverse people and communities responding to the climate and biodiversity crisis. The initiative received nominations from across the country following a public open call earlier this year.
Evanna Devine will create a series of portraits captured at locations connected to each woman’s work. Evanna is an exciting award-winning artist. Her practice centres on long-term, community-led storytelling, exploring themes of class and identity in contemporary Ireland.
The project will culminate in a public exhibition, publication launching in November 2026, in advance of a nationwide tour.
Commenting on the announcement, Shirley Clerkin, Tóchar Project Manager said:
“The women driving nature restoration across Ireland are doing extraordinary work, largely without public recognition. This campaign is our way of changing that. Evanna’s practice is rooted in deep listening and long-term engagement, which is exactly the approach these women’s stories deserve.”
Trish Lambe, CEO, Photo Museum Ireland added:
“This commission makes visible the important work of women in nature, sharing their achievements with audiences and communities nationally and internationally through public programmes. We look forward to seeing Evanna Devine’s creative responses to this wonderful commission.”
Photographer Evanna Devine said:
“I’ll be travelling to the places where restoration is actually happening and I’m hoping to make portraits that feel like a true record of this moment in Ireland’s environmental story.”
The campaign aims to put a spotlight on the people behind Ireland’s transition to a nature positive future and highlight the often-overlooked role women are playing in restoring landscapes, protecting ecosystems, and strengthening communities.
The Women in Nature campaign forms part of the wider work of Tóchar Midlands Wetland Restoration, a major wetlands restoration initiative operating across Ireland’s Just Transition region and reflects our ongoing commitment to amplifying women’s contributions to nature restoration.
Tóchar Midlands Wetland Restoration is one of the largest restoration projects currently underway. It is a three-year, €12 million wetlands restoration project co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the EU Just Transition Fund Programme. The project is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. To find out more or get involved, please visit: https://www.tocharwetlands.ie/women-in-nature-restoration-working-group/
ENDS
Notes To Editor
Details on selected participants will follow
Further details on the exhibition and public programme will be announced in the coming months.
Evanna Devine
Evanna Devine is an Irish artist from Belfast. Her first solo exhibition, It is Different for Mothers (2023), was developed in collaboration with Relatives for Justice and presented at Belfast’s Botanic Gardens. Recent projects include Quiet Fighters, exhibited at Photo Museum Ireland (2025), and her first solo publication Every Glove (2024), published as part of PhotoIreland’s TLP Editions. Devine has been awarded the Early Career Artist Award from Photo Museum Ireland, PhotoIreland’s RADAR Residency, and the Mason Hayes & Curran–Photo Ireland Award, and was selected for the Canon Student Development Programme. She was recently awarded a studio residency at the International Center for the Image to research and develop a new body of work.
About the Tóchar Project
www.tocharwetlands.ie
Tóchar is implementing Action 2.1 of the EU Just Transition Programme in Ireland, focusing on restoring degraded wetlands as part of a broader movement towards carbon neutrality. This project recognises that nature restoration is a social transition, where restoring landscapes goes hand in hand with strengthening communities and reconnecting people with their natural heritage.
The name Tóchar represents the path along the Just Transition journey and serves as a reminder that generations before us have used and experienced bogs and wetlands in many ways.
About Photo Museum Ireland:
Photo Museum Ireland (PMI) is the national centre for contemporary photography. We are dedicated to advancing the development, appreciation and understanding of photography and visual culture. We showcase enlightening, challenging, and inspiring work by photographers that stimulates debate and critical dialogues on the role of the photographic image in society.
Free and open for all, our dynamic programme of innovative exhibitions and curated programmes addresses important artistic, cultural and societal issues, inspiring over 70,000 visitors each year. We support artists through commissions, workplace residencies, and mentoring, production, photobook publishing, touring and international opportunities. PMI’s in-depth education and community outreach programmes and accessibility services promote diversity, inclusion and sustainability, connecting diverse communities with great art.
Our engagement programmes of talks, events, workshops, and artist-led outreach projects connect artists and audiences with thought-provoking, inspirational photography, accessible to all. Funded by The Arts Council, Dublin City Council and The Heritage Council and the support of sponsors and patrons.
EU Just Transition Fund
The purpose of the EU Just Transition Fund (EUJTF), co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, is to assist the territories most affected by the transition to a climate-neutral economy. In Ireland, this focuses on the wider Midlands region, where there have been direct impacts from the move away from peat production and electricity generation from peat.
Up to €169 million, using Exchequer and EU resources, will be available in the Fund to facilitate a just transition towards a low-carbon economy in the Midlands.
The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA) are the Managing Authority for Ireland’s EU Just Transition Fund Programme. Further information, including programme documentation, and links to information about open and future funding calls, is available on the EMRA website