Rosebound
Rosebound. The birds sing and there is no more.
This work emerged from my father's death. I gilded 16,726 rose thorns — one for each day we were alive together — not as monument to loss, but as a celebration of presence. The act of gilding each thorn became a ritual, a slow unfolding, a way of marking time through the body and the hand.
Damer House Gallery, Roscrea, 2025 — supported by the Arts Council of Ireland
Cloth woven with thorns, large charcoal drawings, restored objects, jars of accumulated labour — together these elements create an immersive environment that is both deeply personal and open to anyone who has ever counted their days with someone.
Photographs courtesy of Rohan Reilly and Ben Hutchinson