Rose Petal Series

I began The Rose Petal Series in September 2001, right after the devastation of 9/11. My son was in pre-school and had just gone back after the summer. I watched the horror unfold in New York and wondered if life would ever be the same.

Having come to America as an immigrant from Ireland, and having grown up in Belfast during The Troubles, the fact that this was happening was a reminder of the illusion of safety. How could this happen in America? It evoked a feeling of hopelessness in me. 

Would I ever see my family again? Would we be safe flying? I felt cut off.

The nightmarish news coverage about the people in the buildings kept me awake at night. I kept asking myself, “where did the bodies go?”

I had a collection of small dolls that I had been photographing. I started to wrap them in white muslin. I took photographs of these dolls and, as the days went by, covered them in rose petals. It was a funerary ritual that helped me deal with converging, disturbing visions from my past and the lost sense of security in my new home, America. As the months went by and I continued exploring this new series of work, I began to find peace. 

My mother Peggy had a row of rose bushes along our driveway in Belfast. She steadfastly tended to those roses through all of the upheaval on our streets. Bullets would fly, bombs would go off, burning buses and riots were a constant, but so were her beautiful lemon roses with the pink tinted edges and her dark magenta roses with the unmistakable aroma.

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Stations of Hope

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Works On Linen