My practice explores a connection to place, specifically the area of woodland surrounding my family home in the Waterford countryside. As a concept, place is far more than the geographical space as represented on a map, it is a space that is actively lived in, has a history and cultural context that mediates our actions within it. By engaging in a deep-mapping study through photography, sculpture and cartography, I aim to better understand and represent the multifacetedness of place and personal ties to the land.
Disconnected from home as a result of the restrictions on movement within the current health crisis, I find myself searching for a connection to home. Songs, poems and objects holding a semblance of home become items for introspection.
Sand, stone and soil were extracted from the very surface of the land and delivered to me by my father just before lockdown. These humble materials are permeated with memory and meaning giving the connection to home a tactile, physical form.