S2 E06 • Kieran Dodds: Non-Fiction Photographer

In this episode David Trigg is joined by Kieran Dodds, a Scottish photographer known for his award-winning photo stories and portraits. 

Kieran’s research-driven projects are centred on the interplay of environment and human culture; how people shape their environments and how those environments in turn shape people.

The conversation opens at the V&A Dundee, where Kieran is exhibiting works from his series Church Forests of Ethiopia, in the museum’s Garden Futures exhibition.

The project explores the way that Christian beliefs have created sustainable landscapes in Ethiopia’s Amhara province, an area in the north of the country where, in the last century, vast amounts of ancient forest were cleared for agricultural use, leaving only the lush groves surrounding Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. 

In Ethiopian Orthodox teaching, a church building should be enveloped by a forest, an oasis recalling the Garden of Eden. Thousands of these small church forests litter the Ethiopian highlands, scattered like emeralds across a sea of dusty farm fields. Kieran speaks about how he came to photograph these remnant forests and how the local churches are playing a vital role in the protection and conservation of the region’s biodiversity.

In addition to speaking about how he became a photographer and the role that his Christian faith plays in his work, Kieran also discusses his Border Patrol and Gingers projects.

The exhibition “Garden Futures” is at V&A Dundee until 25 January 2026. 

Works discussed in this episode can be viewed on Instagram.

To keep up to date with Kieran's projects visit his website, follow him on Instagram and subscribe to his Substack.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:36 Church Forests of Ethiopia
• 29:45 Kieran's journey to photography
• 33:04 Non-fiction photography
• 38:50 Environment and culture
• 43:50 What gets Kieran out of bed?
• 45:17 Border Patrol
• 53:10 Gingers
• 1:08:36 The role of faith in Kieran's life and work
• 1:18:54 Outro