BEYOND LEAVING

As I opened my tripod a builder on the single story roof  of the house next door pointed at the sky and shook his head, 'looks like rain he said!'
 It has taken some time. But today I stepped once more into the place where I am most comfortable.
Setting up my camera in the back garden of a house on Church Avenue, Eastwall. I was grateful,
grateful to be once more working with someone I consider a friend. The man who twice set me on my way to the Airport in Sao Paulo after negotiating a shared taxi for me,  who showed me around, and  pointed out the roughness around the edges of the mega-city as I passed through it on my way around the Americas. And of course  I was grateful to be working once more to be making photographs especially within a zone that is now so close to me.
Over the last few months I have been  involved in research,working closely with a small group of people who I had worked with previously for the book 'On Leaving'. We have been talking and tapping away on Skype having a conversation about distance. Not so much about the physical distances they have traveled, not so much about  the distance they might feel from their homeland, but the distance between their expectations of some 5 years ago and the particular reality they find themselves in today.
Graham Martin is the first of these people that I have traveled to and made a picture with.
He  returned home to Dublin some 6 months ago and is living quite close to me in Eastwall, Dublin 3.
Graham chose this place to make a photographic portrait with me as the site of his fresh start in Dublin. He spent over 4 years in Sao Paulo a time which he talked me through in detail both on skype and in a face to face video interview after we had made the work shown above. This is the very first piece in a series of work that will show alongside  other  materials generated within this research process. When the work is completed It is my plan install a major exhibition in a national Institution for a significant time. In 10 days or so I will travel to Toronto, Chicago, and Akron to make more work and I will keep you all informed of the progress and the work as I go along.

Just as I had my tripod in place the camera set up and my lighting rig installed, it started to rain, big hailstones, then clear blue skies with hard edged sunshine, It was not an easy environment to make a portrait but against the wishes of the builder next door we got the work made in an early and timely fashion.Graham himself a keen photographer with an eye for street photography seemed pleased with the outcome and we drove immediately to town together where Graham had some business to attend to.
 It would be great to build momentum from this blog to the installation of a show sometime in November next so to that end I would ask you to share this post on your social networks and introduce your friends to the lilliputian.
Many thanks
David