I never knew my grandfather from Salthill. Born in Mexico, Irish mother andMexican father, Salthill was long interwoven in the landscape of my imagination. Arriving there as a visitor over a number of years, I sought to piece together the Grandfather I never knew through his journeys, the scenes and the details that must have shaped his experience.
To recreate my grandfather’s journeys, I use old photographic techniques which allow a depth of engagement with the landscape around me that digital cameras cannot replicate. -cameras which challenge me to reflect, to observe at length and to submerge myself in my surroundings. Using these cameras creates a timelessness that allows me – for a few moments at least – to bridge the many gaps and unanswered questions to “the Salthill man”.
The search for my grandfather and the piecing together of my own Irish identity become one.
