Magic. A term not always easy to pin down or even convince to be true. For me, it is simply an innate sense of something hovering just beyond the humdrum, tapped into by a pinch of curiosity, wonder or a subtle sideward shift in thinking. Notions of magical thinking act as underlying and consolidating aspects of my process. I see my work as manifestations or series of initiations, instilled with personal narratives and references, often performing as supposed sigils or spells.

In 2019, while on a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, taking road-trips to liminal places, portals to an otherness, played a significant role. When the residency was nearing its end and the series manic panic was complete, my initial intention was to site and document these pieces within particular sacred landscapes, but something didn’t feel quite right. After the museum gates were locked, as the light faded and a stillness set in - the magic-hour - I would often wander alone through IMMA’s gardens. One such evening it struck me, that it was right there within Kilmainham's iconic and healing grounds (originally the settlement of 7th-century St. Maighneann) that I needed to place the work; it felt like both I and this work had come full-circle.

And now, manic panic welcomes another incarnation at Pallas Projects, along with a voice-recording piece, twelfth, made during the 2020-21 COVID lockdown. And there are still many, many more road-trips planned ahead!