Screen prints

Personal Statement

Folk stories were and still are mostly told by word of mouth and have withstood the test of time. This has proved to be extremely effective as most people have detailed preconceived ideas about mythical creatures. By combing photography, digital image manipulation and printmaking I have produced images inspired by Irish Folk stories. I am particularly interested in environments were you might expect see something supernatural.

Common themes run through Irish Folk tales, for example Fairy folk (the Sidhe, pronounced shee) consist of Leprechauns, fairies and Banshee’s. Mostly these creatures reside in the Otherworld (which is believed to be underground) and are portrayed as cunning, mischievous and even evil (the Banshee).

The Otherworld is also thought to be the realm of the dead and I produce images with this definition in mind. Depending on a location (fairy thorn) or the time of year people and creatures can move in or out of the Otherworld. I used images of areas which have a closer connection to the Otherworld, e.g. grave yards, forests etc. Some of the images subtly suggest that mythical creatures are trying to break through to this world.