The format for 'Confluence' evolved from my previous project, 'Searching for your Shadow'. The exhibition promoting this project included two images which worked very well side by side (see above). It inspired me to consider images as pairs rather than individual works. I had been intending to excavate my archive of images from the Creuse region (central France). The diptych format provided an ideal framework for me to work with.

My wardrobe door planner (see image) was fully operational over a couple of years, allowing me to experiment with juxtaposition, structure,  and layout. It was great having the work continually there on show, enabling adjustments whenever they arose. It was good to have sufficient time to develop this project. There was no rush (until some delays in the latter stages!)

'Confluence' is about a flowing together, or a merging and is shown as a series of 34 diptychs. It is sourced from an archive of photographs made over the previous 17 years in the Creuse region.

​The theme of 'Confluence' was inspired by a geographical confluence of the rivers Creuse and Petite Creuse at Fresselines, made famous by Claude Monet's paintings in the region in the late 1880s, where he first developed the notion of series paintings.

The notion of confluence led me to experiment with using a sequential diptych format to create a cumulative sense of place.

On a more personal level, I have never felt that I am of just one place. My family draws its roots from Ireland, Poland and France. I sensed the notion of confluence to be a very personal concept, in addition to something exterior and material, as evidenced in this book. Alongside a strong sense of my Irish and Polish heritage, my French mother and our holidays in France have left me with an abiding love of the nation and its culture.

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​'Confluence' - the Launch Exhibition

October 2023

Thanks to all at The Mount Without, Bristol, UK, for a successful launch exhibition, which was open daily for three weeks in October 2023. Thanks also to the 400+ people who visited, and to those who bought books and prints.

'Confluence' is a self-funded and self-published photobook. It is a limited edition of 150; each copy is signed and numbered.

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