About my art practice

I’m a visual artist and long distance swimmer. My art practice works at the intersection of art, swimming and place. I begin by swimming in the particular body of water which the project is going to explore. I talk with local swimmers, people passing by, local boat users, anyone who may have knowledge or stories about the body of water. I ask practical advice, ‘When is the best time of the tide to swim?” ‘Where are the entry and exit points?” “What is the water quality like?” And so on. But I’m also interested in the history, biodiversity and heritage of that watery space, and the personal stories connected to it. This way the water and its surrounding community lead my art projects, they kind of go with the flow. I’ve been describing this process as “Psychoswimography” the word ‘swim’ added to Psychogeography to shift the meaning from a terrestrial drifting to a watery drifting and re-imagining of place. I use film, sound, stop motion animation, sculpture, drawing, books, performance and live events to make the work. I have been developing a multi-layered way of working with different communities in different disciplines, all connected through a particular body of water.

Over the past 4 years I have been working with curator Rosie Hermon on “Swimming a Long Way Together” 2020/24. This work involved collaboration with artists, musicians, writers and communities of swimmers to develop large scale celebratory events and exhibitions in Dublin, Co Cork, Galway, Donaghadee, Dover and Brighton. These expansive moments represent the contemporary experience of open water swimming through the legacy of Mercedes Gleitze who was a 20th century pioneer swimmer and the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927 as well as many other challenging swims across the world. Mercedes became celebrated for her swimming achievements, huge crowds would come to cheer her on and music played a central role for Mercedes, lifting her spirits as she swam for hours on end.

“Swimming a Long Way Together” was funded by the Arts Council of Ireland’s Open Call Award and the Heritage Funk, UK.

When passing a body of water, be it pond, fountain, lake, river or sea, it’s hard for me not to resist the urge to take a swim. My work investigates where this drive to swim long distance comes from, this desire keep on swimming for hours upon hours on end without stopping. Is it the sheer thrill of the unknown; to feel the water on our skin, the cold on our head, adapt our breathing and to feel we exist.

In the past few years I have created art projects in watery spaces as diverse as the frozen Pirita River, Estonia; the Rideau Canal in Canada; The President’s Fountain, Bulgaria; the Pacific Ocean, Santa Barbara; the M50 Aqueduct in Dublin to the Bogs of Ballycroy, Co Mayo.