Documented Males.

In March of 2024 amidst the rising tensions in Ireland around Immigration, I approached the IPAS centre in Courtown , co. Wexford housed in the Old Courtown Hotel, with a view to documenting the lives of the men living there. Initially, I spent a couple of months dropping in to get to know the residents and to get a feel for the place and once I had explained the project and gained their trust, I began photographing them. So much was in the press and online at the time about how these men were here to take over and to exploit our system.

What I found was a group of men that bore both physical and mental scars from a deeply traumatic past, trying to turn their lives around in a country whose government had welcomed them, granting them refuge from the former atrocities that they had endured.

At the end of the summer, I sent the project to the Guardian UK, and they decided to feature it as a photo essay with accompanying text from their Irish correspondent Lisa O’Carroll. I organised the interviews with the refugees that run through the piece, and I also liaised with local community leaders, facilitating interviews with them in order to provide a local perspective of life in the village with an IPAS centre so centrally located.

As part of this ongoing project, I led a series of photography workshops with the guys in the hotel during 2025 and the summer of 2026. The workshops taught them how to document their own lives and experiences, and explored photography as a cathartic practice—a way to support mental wellbeing and explore different themes, emotions and subjects. Their work alongside mine was

exhibited as part of Culture Night 2026 with support from Creative Ireland.

A portrait from the series “ Baba, Courtown Woods “ was shortlisted for the 2026 Taylor Wessing portrait prize and is now in the National Archive.

I’ve made a lot of friends along the journey this project has taken, and I thank them all for their openness and generosity.

A massive thank you also to the staff of the Courtown Hotel, Wexford Local Development, the Wexford County Council Integration Team and the wider Courtown community.

The Guardian UK photo essay with interviews with the guys can be found here - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/dec/02/asylum-seekers-refugees-courtown-ireland-photo-essay