For the past few years, I've been spending time in Cloonbar Bog, seeking refuge from the constant digital stream. Photography initially offered escape through the familiarity of being behind the camera, but I found this created distance when I longed for deeper connection with the landscape. I turned to lumen printing—a cameraless, hands-on process where the bog itself actively shapes the images alongside me.
Working with sphagnum moss and bog pool water, I create images on light-sensitive paper where outcomes emerge from collaboration between myself and the landscape. The process is unpredictable; blurs, textures, and traces develop in ways I cannot control, creating conversation between artist, moss, and bog.
Sphagnum is integral to this work and the bog itself. The acidity in bog water reacts with light-sensitive paper, echoing the slow ecological transformations that allow peat to form and carbon to be stored. Yet landscapes like Cloonbar face ongoing threats from extraction and development. 'Sphagnograms' explores how the places we seek for refuge often hold the solutions we most need to protect.
