In February 2011, I left Ireland in an attempt to find work in my native United States. Because of the complexities of US immigration policy, I was forced to leave my husband in Ireland hoping to find enough work to sponsor his visa. Returning to my childhood home with my dog, friends and most of my possessions on the other side of the ocean, I began what has becme one of the most the most difficult and frustrating periods of my life. With my marriage reduced to phone calls and social networking sites, I began looking for a more meaningful way to stay connected with my family and friends in Ireland.
It is easy to keep people updated on the big news events in your life. What I realized I was missing was the sharing of the seemingly unimportant, mundane moments that create intimacy in a relationship: the things you may comment upon in passing if you were together and long to share when apart. I began to photograph my days to share with my husband through email and Facebook: all of the little things that were a visual answer to the question “What did you do today?”.
Impermanence is a collection of these images.They are the details of my days spent in limbo - at home but at the same time away from home, with my family but away from my husband, never alone but terribly lonely. In our increasingly public lives, we are able to share where we’ve been and where we are going with everyone. With our partners, it’s not about the destinations but the journeys that create our bonds and shared memories. Since returning to Ireland, I have been dealing with the fallout from that physical and emotional separation, the result of missing all of those important moments.
It is easy to keep people updated on the big news events in your life. What I realized I was missing was the sharing of the seemingly unimportant, mundane moments that create intimacy in a relationship: the things you may comment upon in passing if you were together and long to share when apart. I began to photograph my days to share with my husband through email and Facebook: all of the little things that were a visual answer to the question “What did you do today?”.
Impermanence is a collection of these images.They are the details of my days spent in limbo - at home but at the same time away from home, with my family but away from my husband, never alone but terribly lonely. In our increasingly public lives, we are able to share where we’ve been and where we are going with everyone. With our partners, it’s not about the destinations but the journeys that create our bonds and shared memories. Since returning to Ireland, I have been dealing with the fallout from that physical and emotional separation, the result of missing all of those important moments.
This is my journey.
This work received an Honorable Mention in the 2012 International Photography Awards.
