Open City Docs Fest 2014

This is my 4th year to work on the Open City Docs Fest visual identity – here's this year's poster. The concept behind the poster is that documentary and OCDF represents a time capsule – a filmic record of the stories and events that were significant over the past 12 months. This filmic archive that is added to year after year, building up layers of stories. This poster expresses this idea more graphically, the overlaid colours and textures are reminiscent of old film stock.

I'll post some updates on this project over the next couple of weeks - stay tuned ;)

Five Million Born

New book/ebook cover design for Orchard Wall Publishing - Five Million Born, an IVF Companion Guide.

Heart of Darkness

Chapter 1 (p8)
"At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on the map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, When I grow up I will go there."

Chapter 2 (p55)
"...and I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with my own, looking at me very fierce and steady; then suddenly, as though a veil had been removed from my eyes, I made out, deep in the tangled gloom, naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes - the bush was swarming with human limbs in movement, glistening, of bronze colour."

Chapter 3 (p72)
"...and there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids - a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and , with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of  the teeth, was smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber."

Here is my entry for the House of Illustration/Folio Society Competition 2014. This year's book was "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad.

The Sea and the Silence

I was commissioned by Orchard Wall Publishing to create the ebook cover and some digital banner ads for The Sea and the Silence, a novel set across the decades following Ireland’s newly won independence.

The lighthouse is metaphorically a symbol of safely and beacon of hope amidst a turbulent sea. In this image, the lighthouse has been inverted (reflected in the sea) suggesting the turmoil (both political and personal) taking place throughout the book. Presenting the symbol as a mirror image is also suggestive of how certain themes in the book mirror each other through history and evokes the circularity of the story.

Available now on Amazon!

Open City Docs Fest in situ

Showcase Cities Exhibition

BE - One Word Brief

This is a piece of self-initiated work in response to the Onewordbrief. The word in this case is BE which I have interpreted as BEhind. The image is about departure, leaving the past behind and embarking on a journey. As the narrative moves across the triptych the landscape changes, we see urban bustle dissolve until the individual remains standing alone on the edge of the city.