Cover image for Dublin Inquirer print edition #101

This piece is named “Afro-Irish”.

It’s part of a bigger series, called Migration/Integration, and tells the story of a person trying to maintain the culture they came from and integrate into Irish society, finding a balance yet finding it hard to integrate. Hence, you see the Irish flag with blue skies but there is barbed-wire fence.

The Migration/Integration project, which began in 2015, is a series of portraits based on the ever-changing landscape of the world. The story behind it is about an individual’s transformation in the new world wherever they go people build homes and create families. They retain their identities while attempting to take on a new one.

The images took place in different locations using various light sources, such as natural and studio light, or a mix of both, to best fit the person – tracing the various ways in which people integrate and make cross-culture connections in their new homes. The photographs have many layers: first, a gaze into each one’s personality; second, while sitting for the session each person is asked a series of questions that reveal more about them. The project weaves the various elements together to create a whole new and different perspective to the standard portrait.

In “Afro-Irish”, you see the Irish flag with blue skies but barbed wire in the mid-ground. The faze is a shift between new and old self trying to find balance. Together it shows hardship and understanding of finding self.