Travelling In A Strange Land

Travelling In A Strange Land is a creative collaboration with the highly acclaimed writer David Park. These images are part of a body that is my artistic response to his novel of the same title which was published by Bloomsbury in March 2018. The works explore a reflective journey through the themes of familial love and loss, combining imagery with text specifically chosen to reflect an inner journey through grief. When David and I first met we shared the influence on our work of the photographer Bill Brandt and his passion for shadows and light. So with that connection and armed with an old Mamiya camera, I set out to bring the central character’s love of the art of photography alive as well as bringing my own personal response. The work was featured In Irish Times Ticket Magazine, the Irish Pages Journal and exhibited as part of the John Hewitt Summer School at the MarketPlace Theatre, Armagh. “When Sonya read the first draft of the novel it was clear she possessed intuitive and deeply personal insights into its themes and preoccupations. The photographs she has produced journey to the heart of what I was trying to achieve and also illuminate aspects that have been hidden in my own consciousness. The images captured reveal both a tenderness and a sense of intellectual strength. In the external world portrayed and the shadowed interiors of the heart, her eye has captured again and again what I have struggled to express in words and I am full of admiration for her art” David Park