Éire (ay-ruh) is the Gaelic word for Ireland, derived from the name of the Gaelic goddess.

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While I have never lived in Ireland, it is somewhere that has never felt all that foreign to me. Through old photographs, stories told and visits over the years I have developed a strong affinity for the birthplace of my grandparents and generations before. My series explores themes of ancestry and connection, focusing on the photographic archive, the Irish landscape and the words we use to describe the natural world around us.

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A longtime outdoors enthusiast, I found the Irish landscape to be diverse and breathtaking; if a little bit damp. My mother and I have visited yearly, over the last 5 years, to visit family and do a little bit of sightseeing. No part of the island is the same; ranging from gently sloping green pastures criss-crossed by stone walls and dotted with sheep to winding roads hugging jagged rock-face. My mother visited Ireland for the first time when she was 17, and tried to return as often as she could afterwards. While working on this project, I came across a huge box of her photographs from those years. Dozens of envelops of pictures, their labels ranging in date from 1974-1984, categorized by locations such as Curraghboy, Ra, and Ackle Islands. Though the photos were taken some 30, 40 years ago the faces and places were recognizable.

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While photographing in Ireland, I was also influenced by the descriptive glossaries of Gaelic words in Robert Macfarlane's “Landmarks” and the landscape work of artists Sophie Gerrard and Phil Underdown. I wanted to investigate this familiar and yet still unexplored land, through photographing the landscape- with attention given to the vegetation and flora. The comparison between the archive images and my own relate to my own connection to Ireland, something that is both past and present. This series has helped me to better understand the country where I now claim citizenship.