Seamus Murphy on Photographing Patterns Across Cultures

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Seamus Murphy is an Irish photographer and filmmaker who has spent decades documenting life in some of the world's most challenging places—from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to Nigeria's Boko Haram territories. Having left recession-era Ireland in the 1980s to teach himself photography in American darkrooms, Murphy has become that rare artist who moves seamlessly between conflict zones and recording studios, creating books of Afghan women's poetry while directing music videos that anticipated Brexit.

Tyler and Seamus discuss the optimistic case for Afghanistan, his biggest fear when visiting any conflict zone, how photography has shaped perceptions of Afghanistan, why Russia reminded him of pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland, how the Catholic Church's influence collapsed so suddenly in Ireland, why he left Ireland in the 1980s, what shapes Americans impression of Ireland, living part-time in Kolkata and what the future holds for that “slightly dying” but culturally vibrant city, his near-death encounters with Boko Haram in Nigeria, the visual similarities between Michigan and Russia, working with PJ Harvey on Let England Shake and their travels to Kosovo and Afghanistan together, his upcoming film about an Afghan family he's documented for thirty years, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.

Recorded August 21st, 2025.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:09.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:13.5	Learn more at Mercadis.org.
0:15.7	For a full transcript of every conversation enhanced with helpful links,
0:20.4	visit Conversationswithtyler.com.
0:26.2	Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler.
0:30.3	Today I am talking with Seamus Murphy, who is an Irish photographer and filmmaker.
0:36.4	He has numerous books, including photography of Afghanistan,
0:40.2	Russia, America, and Ireland. He has a book of poetry from Afghanistan. He has worked with
0:46.4	PJ Harvey, the British popular music star on two albums, including on Let England Shake. He does
0:53.6	film as well. He's a hard person to summarize, because
0:56.7	there is, in fact, no one else like him, and he grew up in the Dublin area. Seamus, welcome.
1:02.7	Thank you. Love he's being here. Just to start with Afghanistan, where you've spent a lot of time
1:07.9	recently, correct? Yes. Is there an optimistic case for that country right now?
1:14.1	And if so, what does it look like?
1:15.7	Hmm.
1:16.9	I think the optimism that I would have for that country would be the people,
1:20.3	and I think I've got a lot of faith in the people.
1:23.2	You know, we have this impression of Afghanistan as being very conservative, very, you know, extreme.
1:28.3	It's not at all. They're very, they're very easygoing people. And they've been in the middle of
1:33.8	a lot of trouble, usually caused by people on the outside. You know, there are a small country.
1:38.2	They're strategically between many powers. And, you know, they've had a lot of problems in their
	...

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