Introduction
Ten years after James Joyce left Dublin he pieced it together from a distance, boasting that if Dublin ever disappeared off the face of the earth, it could be recreated from the pages of "Ulysses". As much as I am inspired by Joyce’s cunning use of language, it is his focus on place, specifically his attachment to a place that he had rejected, and yet wrote about continuously, that interests me greatly.
My parents are both from Dublin. It is where they were born, where they met, and where they married. They left Ireland soon after their wedding and headed for North America, where I was born and raised. Through "Ulysses, a personal journey" I sought to understand how my father saw the city of his birth and how my perception of Dublin was mediated by his experiences.
Growing up it was always clear to me that "Ulysses" was my father’s favourite book. Whenever we went to Dublin on family trips my father would have us stop so he could read passages from the book at appropriate Bloomsday sites throughout the city. Relating Dublin to "Ulysses" was the way in which my father was most engaged with the city. Wanting to seek connection to my father and understand his city, "Ulysses" came to serve as our touchstone.
The modernist novel "Ulysses" always felt very personal to me. The book features two characters, their travels and encounters during a day in Dublin, specifically on June 16th 1904, and their attempts to find connection. My great-great grandfather Joseph Hutchinson was Lord Mayor of Dublin on the day in question and he is mentioned more than once in the book. Furthermore, Joseph’s son attended classes with James Joyce at Belvedere College, a school that my grandfather and father also attended. These stories and connections to Joyce form the fabric that weaves my family lore.
"Ulysses" deals with everyday people and ordinary moments, with the idea that much of a personality can be revealed in simple actions and thoughts. Joyce made the everyday seem new by describing it as if it were being seen for the first time. This is something that I am often trying to evoke in my work, capturing quiet moments of light and clarity that I encounter when photographing my familiars.
In "Ulysses, a personal journey" I have inserted my father and I as the two characters that the viewer follows through our version of Bloomsday (an event that occurs every June 16th, when Joyce fans revisit places mentioned in "Ulysses"). Sites from "Ulysses" are revealed, as well as sites from my father’s life and his family history, all seen through our attempts to connect and to understand this place of origin.