Artist Statement

My work explores how land connects us to our heritage and culture, I explore this through painting, print making and mixed media sculpture. Stemming from a gra for Irish landscapes that conflicts with familiar ties to the industrialism of boglands, my work discusses these contradicting themes as I try to figure out where I stand. I employ an interdisciplinary approach to my art utilising traditional methods such as print making and painting combined with paper making techniques and mixed media sculpture, as I wish to return to hands on making that immerses you in the processes entirely.

My art making is informed by the stories and experiences of the Irish people that have a connection to the boglands. Taking onboard their experiences to understand the beauty and value of the bog. Site visits are crucial to my process as the bog is not somewhere I am familiar to, they allow me to visualise the tales of fun, laughter and hard work of a day on the bog. I hold a bit of jealousy towards other people’s connection to the bog, I don’t have a personal experience with it “I’ve no spade to follow men like them” as Heaney put it, I cannot connect to the bog in the way they talk with such vivid memories, I can only engage with it as a visitor. I navigate this feeling of trespassing, yet I am filled with a strong sense of connection to the past and to traditions gone during my site visits. The juxtaposition of these emotions informs my work as I look at the bog through a lens of unfamiliarity.

 I dive into research as a source of connection to become more familiar with life on the bogs. Looking at Irish Artists such as John O'Grady and Hughie O'Donoghue alongside poets like Seamus Heaney to deepen my understanding of this longstanding connection people have had with the bog.