Luscious Revolution I, Spring. Luscious Revolution II, Autumn. Interval photography sequence.

From: Everything is fragile, 2024.

Hinting at the Memento Mori trope, and at the same time attempting to subvert it with a moderately uplifting hue, the fugitive beauty of ordinary flowers that blossom during the seasons of change – Autumn and Spring - is caught in these works in a muted cycle of death and renewal, sorrow and pleasure. A poignant line delivered by the ill-fated protagonist of a French Nouvelle Vague movie, beautifully captures our vulnerability in the face of the inevitability of change and the transiency of living. “Jean, tout est fragile. Pouvons-nous vivre d’un souvenir?”* An attempt to unravel the sombre beauty and complex significance shrouded in these words, whilst questioning the place of my photographic practice in an image-saturated world, led me to explore the 17th century Dutch and Flemish culture that gave rise to the Vanitas painting genre. Being an art considered minor at the time, it allowed female painters to excel in it, despite the restrictive societal constrains on women. The works shown here are part of a multi-media body of work, Everything is fragile, produced thanks to the support of the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

*Au pan coupé, directed by Guy Gilles. France, 1968