Artist’s Statement

My childhood years were spent in a war-zone in Belfast where the sights of gun battles, burning buses and riots were an everyday occurrence. I didn’t know any other life, and like most children in scary situations, I adapted as best I could, going to school and playing with my friends in spite of the chaos around me. It is only in looking back that I recognize the lingering effect of living in a world that was threatening and dangerous. I had two distinct realities, one within my family home, that was very loving and safe, and the other outside on the street that was volatile and scary.

This is a theme that resonates with me and I am drawn to the  dichotomy of opposites residing side by side: danger and safety, security and vulnerability. I now recognize that my early black and white photographs include images that I created to address these underlying themes, without being consciously aware while I was taking the photographs. They were dark and menacing and for quite a while I was afraid of them. Now I can see that I was exorcising memories from being a frightened child, having witnessed violence that I couldn’t understand or be sheltered from.

The theme of childhood vulnerability is continued in my other artworks, “Bless Me Child For I Have Sinned” and “The Children”, which address my outrage over the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church. Children’s lives were irreparably damaged. The Church knew and protected the priests instead of the children.  

Currently, I am working on new bodies of work that combine hand-sewn linen with photography. I am also creating line drawings and watercolors.