This striking painting captures two men in a currach, a traditional Irish handmade boat, sailing against the tide with all their worldly possessions. Their expressions are etched with determination, their grip firm on the oars as they navigate the open water. The Atlantic stretches behind them, an unforgiving force they have battled for generations. Ahead lies a vast uncertain future.

Inspired by the historic 1960’s evacuation of Inishark Island, off the west coast of Ireland, this piece reflects the resilience and sorrow of those who leave their homeplace—whether by choice or necessity. It echoes the universal questions of emigration: What does it mean to leave? Can we ever truly return? Who do we become when we go?

With each brushstroke, this painting tells a story of survival, loss, and identity—an homage to those who have faced the journey across the waves, never looking back, yet forever carrying their sense of ‘home’ within them.

On 20th October 1960, 24 people left Inishark Island off the Galway coast in a flotilla of boats bound for the Connemara mainland. They carried with them pots, pans, bedsteads and furniture, all their worldly belongings. After centuries of resilient survival in the face of an unmerciful Atlantic and unsympathetic authorities, the community of ‘Shark’ was no more. I am fascinated by this story, and the visual image of entire families, putting all their worldly belongings into a thin-skinned currach and sailing across to mainland Galway, forever leaving their homeplace behind.

Oils on stretched canvas

100cm (high) x 150cm (long) x 5cm (deep), Unframed