Image, Memory and Archive

The house  I recently moved into was left very sudden as the old woman living there passed away, leaving her whole life and all her belongings behind. No one came and claimed her belongings, I had to help my landlord to clear out the house of all the furniture etc, but some of the things are still there. She lived there for over 30 years so the house has a lot of character.

                   This project wish to invite the viewer into a memory archive from a home left behind very sudden. It is an investigation of a stranger's life and a portrait of a house that have been someone's life and home for a very long time. I’d like the project to be a reflection on impermanence and the transience of life. Moving into a house like this and letting two lives merge, is both intimate and voyeuristic, almost intrusive.

    

Strange Lands

This series is an exploration in  national and cultural identity; how it is to live in between two countries - the country of birth and country of choice. It investigates the longing and the guilt, and the wish to reconnect spiritually and physically. I am using my body as an object of investigation for the relationship between the human figure and the Irish land; I am a part of the land yet a part of me will always be gazing away, to the home I left behind. The landscapes are like a loving mother that holds and nourishes its child as well as punishes and neglects it. The physicality of the performance act helped me to find a connection and reach deeper into the symbolic journey I am on. I resonate with Cuban artist Ana Mendietas qoute:

My exploration through my art of the relationship between myself and nature has been a clear result of my homeland during my adolescence. The making of my silueta in nature make the transition between my homeland and my new home. It is a way of reclaiming my roots and becoming one with nature/the maternal source."

And I danced the Waltz Through the Silence

In one of our projects touching upon narrative within photography we were asked to produce a minimum of six images in a response to Robert Smithson’s essay ‘A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey’. In my exploration of Limerick city, a place I just moved to, I found that I developed a persona that transformed into a metaphor for the connection between the human element and the urban space. I was investigating how we move around in public spaces, how we try to find our place in a new environment. In my images there are only the figure and the city, they are otherwise devoid of any other people or interactions.The city is an empty space; an open playground where the possibilities are open. Besides the playfulness and tranquility there are also a sense of loneliness; the feeling of isolation that can be with us in the beginning of settling in somewhere new.

First Day of Spring

This three minute video piece is a depiction of loss; about the isolating space one can be left in after losing someone to suicide. It is a meditation on emotional turbulence and the difficulty to let go. With inspiration drawn from 'slow cinema' I chose a minimalist approach where there are no dialogue and the takes are long, this to give the viewer room for their own interpretation and time to reflect.

Click here to view the video

Reflections

Isolation

Mixed Collection