I value how photography bonds people to memories and motivates me to travel. A large part of my practice in portraiture is about the embodiment of social issues, such as gender inequalities and safety issues related to sexuality and signifiers of femininity. My abilities as a photographer include capturing how people identify and express themselves and I do this with conversation, understanding and patience. Due to these traits, I value the ability to make and hold a connection with my subject. I believe in photographing everything from the everyday, the lifestyle and mundane to a society, to the historical and memorable landmarks. My experience in representing the identities of others and their personal experience underpins my current focus on identity and my family history. My capacity to do this requires me to fully grasp how the history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland intersects with private lives and personal interactions.
‘Beyond The Walls’ is about my family’s connection to County Derry. My family has been based in Derry and Northern Ireland for many generations, but this project is an attempt to honour that complicated family history, which is undeniably controversial, as well as depicting what Derry is like now. It primarily features my grandmother and Great Aunt and focuses on their experiences of growing up in Northern Ireland, and what it was like for them to be forced to leave. This project gave me the opportunity to rediscover my family's history in parallel with the history of Derry itself, and to pay tribute to my grandmother and her sister who once lived there. It has reconnected me with my heritage and allowed me to capture the unseen or covered-up side of Derry, both the Derry my family experienced and the Derry that exists today.