Capturing a moment in time and a way of life fast ending, this is a small selection from a major photo project on the Jesuit Community in Leeson Street.
My primary role with the Jesuits in Ireland was book design, and in this capacity I frequently worked side by side with the Irish Jesuit Archives, and other archives in Ireland and elsewhere. Thus grew a deep love of everything archival, and as libraries and museums increased access online to archival material, the world of archive material became ever richer and accessible. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to pore over archival material and use it in a book or other project.
This collection was given as a gift to the Irish Jesuit Archives.
Manresa in Birmingham is the place Jesuit novices spend time during their formation. In 2020 the community vacated the premises in order for it to be completely renovated. This project was to capture the house and the community before this major change took place.
The resulting collection of photographs was given as a gift to the British Jesuit Archives.
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My primary role with the Jesuits in Ireland was book design, and in this capacity I frequently worked side by side with the Irish Jesuit Archives, and other archives in Ireland and elsewhere. Thus grew a deep love of everything archival, and as libraries and museums increased access online to archival material, the world of archive material became ever richer and accessible. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to pore over archival material and use it in a book or other project.
John Sullivan SJ was made Blessed John Sullivan in 2018 in a ceremony at SFX Church, Gardiner Street. This is a small selection of images taken of both the preparations and the day itself.
I was charged with the graphic design, including the huge image of John Sullivan to appear over the altar. It is five meters high and three meters wide. It was covered over by red curtains, then opened ceremoniously once the declaration of John Sullivan as a Blessed was made, a theatrical touch to proceedings.
I photographed preparations in the lead up to the event, and ‘behind the scenes’ on the day. The resulting collection was given as a gift to the Irish Jesuit Archives.
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My primary role with the Jesuits in Ireland was book design, and in this capacity I frequently worked side by side with the Irish Jesuit Archives, and other archives in Ireland and elsewhere. Thus grew a deep love of everything archival, and as libraries and museums increased access online to archival material, the world of archive material became ever richer and accessible. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to pore over archival material and use it in a book or other project.
In November 2017 The Adventure Project began the renovation of the Lock Keeper’s cottage at Newcomen Bridge, North Strand, Dublin 3. The cottage had fallen into a bad state over years of neglect.
The Adventure Project was an independent non-profit organisation delivering collaborative therapeutic programs and outdoor education experiences.
While operating this project at the cottage, the Project offered canoeing on the Royal Canal, while also acting as a central club house for their many outdoor activities. The Project leader gave me permission to take photos of the renovation over the many months it took to complete.
I was careful to check with every person photographed that they had no objection to my including them, and I excluded anyone who wished to be excluded. The renovation was enabled by the volunteers who came on board, many of whom had perhaps troubled backgrounds. The Project believed in the power of the outdoors and team activities to teach young people life-skills, ways of being and thinking, the importance of helping each other, and so forth.
Seeing this transformation take place was a huge privilege for me. I was like a ghost who walked around the work, camera and lenses hanging out of me. It is my firm belief that the ethos of this project holds the key to healing the environment by healing people first.
I do not make the mistake of thinking this applies only to those of troubled backgrounds. It is my firm belief that every bit as much healing is required by those in positions of power. Power and wealth corrupts every bit as much as disenfranchisement and poverty. These are very basic thoughts that I hope in the future to expande through photo projects and a book, or books. In many ways, there is nothing more important.
In 2016, I went to Paris Photo. It was a cold early November - and especially on the open rooftop of Gallerie Lafayette at dusk and after dark.
These shots were taken by placing the camera on an outstretched arm of the tripod, with it still around my neck for security. It was the only way to exclude the parapet on the wall.
It took over two hours to get what I wanted, more if you count the previous day taking practise shots with the iPhone. The iPhone allows me access to spaces the camera doesn’t lend itself to, and then I try to make the camera more versatile than it is intended to be to achieve the same shots as the phone.
The monochrome Eiffel Tower shots were taken on a rainy grey day.
The Kincora Boys' Home was a boys' home in Belfast, Northern Ireland that was the scene of serious organised child sexual abuse in the 1970s, causing a scandal and attempted cover-up in 1980, with allegations of state collusion. For more information on this, you may google ‘Kincora Boys’ Home Belfast’.
These photos were taken in 2018, a long time after change of use from a boys’ home to a business premises. At the time of taking the photographs, the businesses had moved, and it was up for sale with pp for a proposed apartment block. For some years before this, the scandal of sex abuse had been much in the news, with many people calling for the demolition of the building – a reminder and a source of re-traumatisation for those who had lived there.
Glimpse-memories from a childhood living with alcoholism
My ship of dreams is a haunted ship
That I sail when the moon rides low
For my dreams have suffered complete collapse
And I don’t want the moon to know.
The undertaker gave us a candle with our father’s name on it which I kept and still have, and light on Christmas Day. The first photo shows it on the windowsill of my father’s house as we are working to empty it and put it up for sale. I know my father looked out this window every day, many times, often stared out, thinking of my mother and his loneliness without her. He spent a lot of time in the kitchen, especially in the latter years when watching TV gave him no pleasure any more for various reason.
The second photo is of his sitting room chair after he died, and the third photo, before he died. If you look through the chair to the photo on the table, that’s my mother, and he loved that photo of her. The fourth photo is his chair at the kitchen table, then the kitchen after he died. After that, we see random places in the house and the familiar bits and pieces from when he lived there.