The Call Of The Shannon

This work is the result of last years (2023) open submission first prize award
from Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival. It provided a platform to revisit
some of my own childhood experiences and memories through archival
photographs via the collection of Atty Dunne, an ardent photographer of
domestic culture in the 50's, 60's, and 70's in Carrick on Shannon Co. Leitrim.

Many thanks to BVW and Arts Festival for this opportunity and to the Dunne
family for access to Atty's archival material, the Arts Council Funding Festivals
and County Offaly.

The Call Of The Shannon' is a collection of four short stories from ordinary
people about their relationship with the river Shannon. From a fisherman,
Colin Wikes, who travelled from England to fish in its waters, to Colin Becker
owner of the Chang Sha, a boat built in 1846, he is also the Director of the
Inland Waterways Association and Director of the Heritage Boat Association.
To Mary and Jeanette Dunne who share their childhood memories of the
Shannon, the Chang Sha and their beloved parents. To young boys, Damien
Masterson and Fred Óg Holt, captured in a Dollard Tru-Colour postcard in
the 1960's, and how the Shannon influenced the life in particular of one of
the boys, Damien Masterson
This work highlights the importance of photography and imagery as domestic
culture that documents the ordinary in a social, political and historical context,
transporting the viewer like a time machine back to past memories.

By telling stories of the past experiences we subliminally draw comparisions
to present day situations, which facilitates the viewer to consider these
narratives in the context of the future...