Nearly a decade ago I made an impetuous move from Dublin, to a cottage life by the River Suir, near Cashel in co Tipperary. Transition to a slower pace within new environs, pungent with an air of overgrown abandonment and entropy, imbued its influence on me. I began exploring, photographing and collecting, both natural ephemera and discarded items of the recent past. This has led to an expanding knowledge of the landscape, its flora, fauna and past history. The countryside has offered up a vital component to my work, which endeavours to clarify my place within the land. My Practice is primarily oil on board, mingled with constructed assemblages of found items. It is not nostalgic but acknowledges how a desire to become more attuned to the naturally occurring continually butts heads with what a modern lifestyle demands. It focuses on the ability of rural landscape to provide space to process and regulate ourselves within the maelstrom of modernity, mindful to learn from the past, what may protect our future.
