wish you were here

My painting practice explores memory as both a deeply personal archive and as a lens through which to imagine alternative futures. Growing up by the sea, the coast has long shaped my internal landscape, its presence a symbol of both continuity and loss. Using old and recent family photographs as source material, I revisit and reinterpret fleeting moments, revealing how memory, like the shoreline, is subject to erosion, distortion, and renewal.

Themes of childhood, family, and the passage of time are central to my work, yet always in conversation with the more-than-human world. The sea, light, and elemental forces are active agents. This body of work saw me preserving and re-telling personal stories through a series of small drawings, keeping the memories of their subjects alive. These are shown alongside abstract paintings that interpret the very places where these memories are anchored. Together, alongside the preservation of memories, the work reflects on the impact of climate change, a theme that first entered the work in 2022, when I discovered that one of the beaches (Courtown, Co. Wexford) seen in the source image I was working from, was no longer there due to coastal erosion. This realisation embedded a sense of urgency and reflection into my creative process. Titles are derived from Werner’s nomenclature of colours, the book Charles Darwin used to describe colours in nature on his voyage on the HMS Beagle. Using these reflects on how climate change is effecting colours in the landscape.