Marion Bergin

13/03/2026

Greetings from Marseille where I’ve been in a little creative cave getting lots of thinking and planning done. Ive been told that Marseille is the new Berlin and now I get to see if that’s actually true because the lovely folk at the Berlin Irish Film Festival (which is in the old Berlin) are kindly flying me there along with some other filmmakers for a couple of days. SWIMirl will be screening on Saturday afternoon.

Despite the fact that the title is SWIMirl and it’s about Dublin’s sea swimmers, it’s actually an abstract architecture film. It was commissioned by the Hong Kong and Shenzen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. Created in collaboration with architect Rob Bourke and produced with Shane Hogan, it shows the squat concrete structures dotted along the coastline that facilitie ease of entry to the water and the ephemeral stories and people we encounter there. I was in the water directing with cinematographer Kev L Smith for the making of this film with and I loved the challenge of swimming around trying to choreograph movement and camera with real people.

The woman is Jackie from Clontarf where I grew up, one of those ladies that glide into the water, not a puff of breath lost. I think she’s beautiful. The two little boys are my nephews Connor and Evan. Connor is an outgoing little charmer child and Evan is gentle and introspective, both incredibly sweet boys in their own ways. The day we shot he was the outgoing brave guy, totally comfortable with the cameras and the water and Connor was a little bit shy. I like that we captured that.

17/02/2026

Today is the start of The Chinese Year of the Horse. I didn’t grow up around horses but for as long as I can remember they’ve had this magnetic draw, much like the sea. The least few years have taken me far and wide to document people across Ireland and their horses. Above are some shots I have taken along the way.

The energy for The Year of the Horse
— Drive and independence
— Change, travel, and expansion
— being seen, stepping forward, taking leadership, backing yourself.
— Adventure and spontaneity

As I write this from Marseille, it already feels like a good year 🐎

11/10/2025

Two of pieces created for “Flouro” a group art show at .arts this weekend curated by . We have also created a short art film “Sí, Sí, Sí”. All photography will be raffled this evening with proceeds going to aid for Palestine 🇵🇸

Love and blessings to my film collaborators .ceol

11/09/2025

Paris is the city of lovers but I felt the love on a recent solo trip. We don’t always need an object of our affection. It can simply be a feeling and I feel it when I’m there.

I went over for a long weekend during Design Week and these are nice things that brought me delight:

1. Entrecôte and wine
2. Chocolate mousse
3. The Medici Fountain - exquisite.
4. Co Hosting with Turku and meeting local kindred spirits
5. Ambling everywhere at a gentle pace

30/07/2025

I often start sentences with ‘this is a bit of a mad idea…….’ at which point the hatches are battoned and my pals run for cover. I’m a big ideas person, what can I say. Thankfully Eoin’s ears prick up which is how we ended up hosting Marionfest - a high Summer celebration of our lives and the people in it.

The house is Tipperary is not even a building site yet, just a tiny hovel with a lean-to kitchen. We live in tune with nature because there are spiders and snails shacked-up with butterflies who rest in the quiet corners. Water pools in some of the rooms.

We have a wooden ‘shed’ that isn’t near finished but getting there. So two months ago I asked Eoin if we could do a big party for my birthday. I thought it would be fun to cook a three course sit down meal for 20 in a hovel because I like a challenge and it seems Eoin does too. By mid afternoon Saturday we didn’t even have a table but Eoin knocked up a banquet table and benches on speed dial. Nothing like some pressure to get you moving.

Fo starters we made Gazpacho garnished with Cougjordan Eco Village veg. The main was a Beetroot Risotto with Goats Cheese, Rainbow Chard and walnuts and I combined dessert and cheese with Cashel Blue Cheese in a lake of Creme Fraiche with cherries and other foraged berries and a drizzle of our first yield of honey from Eoin’s bees.

We partied until the early hours round the bonfire and danced the night away in the orchard. Thanks for our friends for making it SO special, it’s the best party I’ve ever had and I’m still on a high.

Big love and thanks to our crew that helped us pull it off - Kath, Christian, TJ, Karl and Eoin’s kids Bobby and Tom. Absolute legends. And massive thanks to Eoin - some man for one man!

30/07/2025

24/07/2025

Today 47 years ago I arrived here. At 10lb, a whopper first child to my darling mother Una and still a rather large human with a big head by all accounts. It’s only been four hours but I love being 47 so far. Being young never felt like the right fit.

The last ten years have been a s**t show streamed in survival mode - a fragrant melange of curve balls, hurdles and pivots. I closed my fashion label, six months later lost a partner, lost a parent, moved home from London after 15 years, felt completely alienated and fish out of watery, moved into a new career in a pandemic as all the jobs were drying up and fell in love with a man going through his own brand of mid life nuclear chaos.

At times it felt like everything I touched turned to dust but that dust has alchemised to iridescence. It was ten years since Ish passed in June and it was a real moment. I finally feel happy, content and home but yeah, that took a long time didn’t it. Jesus 😐

As each year turns over into the next I discover new age freckles, wobbles, wrinkles, kilos where there weren’t any and my hair is going adventurously silver. I’m lit up by my amazing partner, family I call friends, friends i call family and my dog is a legend. I feel lucky but I’ve also worked damn hard for it.

Growing old is a blessing, not a given and that warrants celebration. It’s not a BIG birthday but it feels like a big one for me so this weekend we’re celebrating with“Marionfest” - slightly narcissistic? Perhaps. A little self indulgent? Yes. Do I care? No 💅

Always remember to count your blessings ✨

*images in no particular order of favouritism

27/05/2025

Tomorrow evening I’m delighted to be giving a talk alongside .

My talk will be on the comprehensive documentary photography project behind my film Saoirse which examines the quiet disappearance of horse culture in the context of urban development. The photography, all shot on 35mm film started long before I ever showed up with a film crew.

I will be offering insight into the creative, cultural and ethical considerations behind the work.

Time: 19.00
Location:
Tickets linked on my stories.

06/04/2025

Thoughts on AI……..this week a big high street retailer with huge production budgets announced that they’d done a partnership between several models and their agents to create AI doppelgänger images for usage with other brands. Their spin was that they were “curious” to find new creative ways to work with technology which is a nice pr angle for “improve profit margins”. I worked as a buyer for the high street in a past life. I know how the machine works.

By 2030 it’s estimated that 80% of creative jobs will be affected by AI - there’s really no going back from here. I’ve being giving macro economics and finance a lot of thought recently and I can’t help but wonder/hope if this could be the actual “big reset” we thought we were getting with the pandemic (but ended up more stressed and squeezed than ever before) where governments will be forced to increase taxes on the wealthy to create a minimum living wage for the swathes of people who will be out of work.

This would mean finding ways to live more sustainability in community for less and could ultimately leave artists free to create art without limitations or the need to fit into commercial systems. Just like “made in ireland”, I see more value being placed on “made by humans”. 🌱

Housing prices are going through the roof in Ireland but it’s possible to build a perfectly charming and liveable wooden house on a little patch of land for very little.

31/03/2025

“connected - warm - happy” - three words offered up by the circle to describe our meetup at the weekend in . Incredible isn’t it how in this scattered, layered and complex world consciously taking time out to enjoy the simplicity of nice things and good company can create contentment. More highlights on my stories. Thanks again to for hosting, Cosmic Energy Healing for grounding us in the space and our guests for taking time out to come together. Thanks for for the stills✨

is a philosophy club dedicated to the ongoing exchange of thoughts, feelings and ideas.

02/03/2025

FRIENDSHIP…… is a strange and beautiful thing. These photos capture my favorite summer ever —a season of escape from uncertainty and lingering post-pandemic isolation. That summer was an indulgent adventure in the honeymoon of a new relationship accompanied by old friends, incredible food and free flowing wine. I drove 3000 miles across Europe with bunny by my side. These pictures were taken on my friends farm in the middle of France as the shadows reached for autumn. I love photography’s ability to preserve the magic of moments that feel perfect.

At the end of that Sunmer ife, as it does, cycled back to its imperfections and realities. Friendships lift us through difficult times and can also be the source of them. One of the people in these pictures is no longer in my life. A strange mix of circumstances and sliding doors of understanding led us to an abrupt and ghostly end. I stopped searching for explanations.

Like relationships, some friendships end without closure. They leave behind a soft ache and also a space for new connections that align with who we are becoming. And maybe, in the end, that’s exactly how it’s meant to be ❤️

23/02/2025

Marvelling in the minor moments

1. Phibsboro swans - amazes me how a bird can be hostile, territorial and Enya all at the same time.
2. Pony kids in Phoenix Park
3. South wall waves
3 Dead Flowers
4. Starey boy/celtic musings
5. Little robin/big chimneys
6. Lough Derg Baltic swims