St. Brigid’s Day celebrated with joint photo exhibition at Noorderlicht
Updated: Sep 14
Groningen, 28 January 2026 – On January 30th , a new photo exhibition will be displayed at Noorderlicht to celebrate the Irish goddess St. Brigid. Het Veenmoeras: The Irish Peatlands through the Female Gaze will focus on the Irish bogs from the perspective of two female photographers and aims to show the meeting point between tradition, care and ecology.
St. Brigid’s day marks the beginning of spring in Ireland, as well as the celebration of female creativity and talent. In her honour, the Embassy of Ireland in the Netherlands brings together Irish photographer Tina Claffey and Bo Scheeringa, a Groningen-based photographer, to show their approaches on the peat bogs and the old Irish tradition of turf cutting.
Scheeringa’s interest in the peatlands goes back to 2013, when, during her first visit to Ireland, she photographed a family she spotted on a bog. “The image of that family didn’t let me go […] it touched me somehow.”
“I wanted to do this project because it’s a dying tradition also. The young people don’t want to cut turf anymore,” says the Dutch photographer, recognising the challenge of staying neutral in her work, considering the political and environmental concerns over peatlands being huge absorbers of CO2.
“I don’t know if there’s a special feminine way of looking at the subject. But what I did was to look at the human side and the people behind the story. […] I see beauty in it,” says Scheeringa about Irish families working together to make fuel for themselves from the turf.
Her photography features the wider landscape and human component, while Tina Claffey focuses on the microscopic life in the peatlands.
“You never know what you’re going to find out there and you get lost, you truly get lost in a living carpet with that micro lens and you get sucked into this other world,” shares the Irish photographer about her passion for macro photography.
“It’s so great to be able to bring it to the Netherlands,” says Claffey about showing her collection at Noorderlicht. “I love the connection to St. Brigid. In Ireland, she’s not just a religious female powerhouse, she is also a Celtic deity, and I’m just honoured to be part of it.”
Tina Claffey hopes that the visitors will look at the bog in a new light. “The flora and fauna within them are older than humanity itself. I hope that people will look and get lost in this micro world of my style and the human side too.”
The official opening will take place at 7PM, with Irish ambassador Ann Derwin and ecologist Matthijs Schouten speaking at the event. The exhibition will show approximately 40 pieces and those interested can visit it until February 13.
Photos by Bo Scheeringa
Story initially published on Under the RUG
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