As a child I had recurring dreams of great waves crashing over me. Some would swallow me up, making me lose consciousness. In others I would reach the top of a hill, where I would observe the sea level slowly rising from afar, engulfing the fishing village in which I still live. My village is … Read more
Around four years ago I completed a drawing inspired by a childhood dream featuring a landscape of balloons, floating boats and orange trees. I then shared it on social media and a friend, Sam Clague, messaged me asking if he could use it for an EP he was releasing called ‘Balloons’. I hadn’t considered the … Read more
Some years ago I read about a small theatre in Moscow staging hard-hitting plays critical of Official Russia. It goes without saying that the authorities did not take kindly to Teatr.doc and its founders, Mikhail Ugarov and Elena Gremina (who both died of heart attacks within six weeks of each other in 2018).[i] In 2014 … Read more
The cacophony of the city took on a new chorus when the construction of a new corporate imprint on the London skyline began. The whining of earth chewing machines carving out the footing for the new monolith metres into the historic soil, and soon argentine rods sprouted the intention of new growth. It was only … Read more
Sure, he was only a little lad of 4ft 10ins. Little Paddy, I called him. He was eighty-two-years-old when I was twelve-years-old, but he was great craic. Little Paddy was a bogman. He lived in the bog of Derrycoffey. Think he was the last to live in that bog. I used to meet him all … Read more
A few months after the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11th, 2001, Frank Armstrong wrote this article, which was originally published (translated into Spanish) in La Vanguardia. He recalls how his sister had visited the building only the day before the attack, and goes on to observe that – … Read more
I watched the flamed sky as the earth rolled back and made it seem like the sun had set. ‘When I was just a little girl…’ I remember waiting for the dark to start as we sat in the car at the drive-in cinema. My mother loved Doris Day. Strange business on earth all the … Read more
Over the course of 2019 there has been a sharp increase in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Human rights violations and ecological decimation in the region are more of a concern than ever under President Jair Bolsonaro, the so-called ‘Trump of the Tropics.’ Brazilian activist and humanitarian Bruna Kadletz calls on the international community … Read more
I was born in Dublin, but I don’t know where I’ll die. The early summer of 2011 was schizoid. I walked for hours in a soft downpour, the sun crawling in and out the haze, getting the best of both climates. I kept my pace relaxed, cocooned in my anonymity, just the way I liked, … Read more