Artist Statement

In 1977, I arrived in Ireland for a one-year sabbatical with my wife, Connie Scanlon. The one-year stay turned into two years, living near Culleens, County Sligo in the Northwest part of Ireland with the Atlantic Ocean on one side of us and the Ox Mountains on the other. We photographed, listened to neighbors and relatives telling stories, played music with traditional musicians, traveled, absorbed a culture and even cut two trailer loads of turf one spring on the bog.

Over the years I have found myself photographing a number of Irish subjects including portraits, street scenes, the landscape, and details of places and people. In 2005, I spent a month photographing and teaching in Counties Offaly and Laois. One of the highlights for me was returning to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair in County Galway, where I had first photographed in 1977.

My connection to the land has deepened during the past two years while working in County Offaly on a book, Stories from a Sacred Landscape with archaeologist Caimin O’Brien. It’s quite an amazing feeling to be standing on the site of a monastery dating back to the 5th century or photographing a rag prayer bush that no one really knows how far back it goes but everyone believes in its power to answer one’s intentions.

And so, I return often to photograph on the bog, the landscape when a scene demands, details that pull me in, the musicians I meet, and my long-time friends and relations. I sense that I do this act of photographing with a passion and a respect for tradition in a place that I call home. — James Fraher, 2006

For booking and leasing information
contact James Fraher :

Ireland:
T 071-917-6398 . M 086-050-9007

USA:
T 847-380-9122     F 847-388-4888
Email James Fraher