BACK IN SYNC!

 with this post I hope to catch up  as I draw closer to the end of the first series of leaving Dublin images. 84 will be the final total(83 published here to date) after three years and three months of shooting.

As with any large body of work there are anomalies when following a stringent M.O.and these two images fell out of sync with the blog because of other pressing issues with the work.

Exhibition preparation for example may have got in the way or a lack of fulfilment re release papers.

All is good now and I offer my apologies to all concerned.

                                             

Juan Miguel Gonzalez was photographed outside his apartment in Malahide before leaving after years working as an economist in a business in the town.He had been there for several years but now with his parents getting older,and the economy getting tighter, he felt it was time  to trip back to home.The beautiful city of Valladolid, Spain.

He loved living by the sea and he loved Dublin with all it had to offer,I am delighted to have spent the couple of nights there planning and shooting this work as my parents spent ten years in this exact location the once bustling but now tired Malahide Marina Village.

 Coincidentally Vladimir Longaeur also lived in Malahide in a fine house on the end of Church street. He had worked for years in Malahide as a waiter but mixed this with a cottage business deving and scanning films for local photography enthusiasts.Photography is his passion and he has exported his  business model and (himself) to Oslo in  Norway where he felt there would be more disposable income  in the general population and his business may thrive.He continues to make great artistic work you can see some  here.The shot was made on a cold night on the Malahide estuary a wild and beautiful landscape close to the town.
Both of these shots will now feature in a projection in my upcoming show at Siamse Tíre,Tralee, Kerry.
In preparation for the show I have been thinking hard of ways to challenge the viewer.I wish to create an active debate within the work, a conversation On Leaving.I want this to be subtly suggested so I am employing a couple of new strands of work and some sound and projection.The net effect of this is hoped to be,apart from the already emotional resonances caused by association with the theme, to bring the viewer to a place where they can question what and why are the necessities of migration and how do we safely defuse the ticking time bomb that it creates as it slowly fragments our communities.
How does a country protect itself against over migration and are there any steps that can be taken to make governments see this as a problem and not an escape valve during times of strife?
Wish me luck and please join me if you can on September the 10th for the launch.

Ray and Artur were on hand for the top shot and Ray Artur,and Ian were on the second and as always they did sterling work!!