This project recreates the feelings and sensations I feel when I visit my family’s island An tOileán Iarthach. It is a love letter to my favourite place on earth: a place where time seems to stand still, where every sense is comforted with the peaceful tides, fresh sea air, wild greenery, untouched ruins and the unique tactile sand.

Memory is but a fleeting moment, and a lifetime is but a series of fleeting moments. Life moves on, but what remains on the island are the traces of those who came before: what was built by hand, and the quiet presence of lives that can still be felt in the tides and the wind. This is a place where you cannot help but think about the past, along with the journeys people from here were forced to make.

Located in the Gaeltacht, the ruins on the island reflect the wider condition of Gaeltacht communities. Emigration has long affected these areas disproportionately, leading to the loss of native speakers and dwindling populations. A consequence of underfunding and structural disadvantage, is that Gaeltacht regions are often romanticised as timeless and unchanged. Following the 2008 financial crisis, many communities became increasingly reliant on tourism. That reliance has since grown dramatically: in Connemara alone, there are currently 573 properties listed on Airbnb, compared to just 10 homes available on Daft. Connemara, a place where the Irish language has endured, is increasingly at risk of becoming reduced to a tourist destination.

Through this work, I capture both the natural beauty of the island and the remnants of the lives that shaped it.