BEYOND LEAVING


Beyond Leaving looks for a prolonged period at a particular group of people who emigrated from Ireland during the financial downturn (2010-2016). The work was shown as a multimedia piece in the National Photographic Archive of Ireland in

2016-17.

It asked the question what is the distance between expectation and reality for the recent Irish

emigrant. Following on from the study it would appear that the jump into the unfamiliar can be impossible to anticipate and only those who have emigrated repeatedly can have realistic

expectations, otherwise depending on how things play out you will always be either surprised, disappointed, or perhaps both. Beyond Leaving

takes its place in a linear suite of works. It follows on from the Leaving Dublin series and once more follows its conventions of composition pose and lighting. It shares some of the intimate surroundings and possessions of the collaborators with the audience before making the jump to a straight on confrontational head and shoulders portrait, whose large size sets out to confront the audience and as an extension society, with its reality. It demands acceptance of this time and this chapter of emigration as truths. The twin goals of presenting my work from both a realist and symbolist viewpoint combines to lift these works into a performative and fictive place, the work as a whole an obvious construct, yet, because of its clearly collaborative nature and its embeddedness in the hard facts of

the day, its truths are there for all to see and

identify with.


Beyond Leaving  publication

Beyond Leaving publication

8 page newsprint doc

Aoife Mc Monagle

Aoife Mc Monagle

Beyond Leaving Portrait


Graham Martin at home

Graham Martin at home

Beyond Leaving environmental portrait

Moriarty The Immigrant Cat

Moriarty The Immigrant Cat


Beyond leaving Portrait

Seb, Sean, Astrid, Leiah, Chicago, U.S.A.

Seb, Sean, Astrid, Leiah, Chicago, U.S.A.

Beyond Leaving Environmental Portrait


Graham Martin Portrait

Graham Martin Portrait

Beyond Leaving Portrait

Aoife's Cat, Toronto

Aoife's Cat, Toronto

Beyond Leaving portrait.

Aoife Mooney

Aoife Mooney

Beyonfd Leaving Portrait


Sean's Rugger Jersey

Sean's Rugger Jersey

Beyond Leaving

Beyond Leaving Show, Gallery

Beyond Leaving Show, Gallery

National Photographic Archive Gallery, Dublin

Nina Scott

Nina Scott

Beyond Leaving Portrait


Aoife Mooney and Dog,

Aoife Mooney and Dog,

Beyond Leaving Environmental Portrait

Aoife Mooney's Garden

Aoife Mooney's Garden

Beyond Leaving, Personal Space


Sarah- Maria Griffin

Sarah- Maria Griffin

Beyond Leaving Portrait


Brian O'Neill. Dolly mount

Brian O'Neill. Dolly mount

Beyond Leaving Environmental Portrait

Sèan Ô Dàlaigh, Chicago

Sèan Ô Dàlaigh, Chicago

Beyond Leaving Portrait

Brian O'Neill's glass angel

Brian O'Neill's glass angel

Beyond Leaving Personal objects


Tom Scott, Portrait

Tom Scott, Portrait

Beyond Leaving portrait


Graham Ford, England

Graham Ford, England

Leia Uî Dhàlaigh, Chicago

Leia Uî Dhàlaigh, Chicago

Beyond Leaving Portrait


Aoife Mc Monagle

Aoife Mc Monagle

Beyond Leaving Environmental Portrait


Graham Ford, England

Graham Ford, England

Beyond Leaving Portrait


Graham Martin's Mantle

Graham Martin's Mantle


Beyond Leaving Personal Objects


Scott Family, Wicklow

Scott Family, Wicklow

Beyond Leaving Environmental Portrait