The Road to Purgatory

Growing up as part of Northern Ireland's 'post'- conflict generation meant that almost every aspect of life was highly politicised and this, in turn, made me acutely aware of the dissonance that exists between personal and public histories. It struck me that this dissonance is the result of a long tradition of violence in our society and, slowly, this train of thought became the core of my work. In general, my practise explores the many ways that violence can manifest itself, all of the banal and peculiar forms that it can take.

This short film documents the journey to the earthly location of Purgatory which, according to legend, can be found on an island in the middle of Lough Derg on the Irish border. The format loosely echoes Dante’s Purgatorio as well as Seamus Heaney’s poetry anthology, Station Island, which details the poet’s own pilgrimage to Lough Derg. Along the way, small anecdotes testify to a range of experiences of living in a supposedly ‘post’ - conflict society, ranging from the compulsion to hide one’s identity out of fear to the alarming rates of suicide experienced by the ‘post’ - conflict generation.

The notion of Purgatory serves as a metaphor for the political vacuum Northern Ireland has experienced in the years since the peace agreement. As such, the portions of the film that dissect life after the conflict were filmed on a 1998 camcorder.

Our political Purgatory perpetuates the instability and violence that Northern Ireland has suffered for decades. Instead of maintaining a culture of silence and pushing a narrative of progress, it is my belief that we should give a voice to those whose stories have gone unheard. I feel that storytelling has a vital role to play in conflict resolution and it is my hope that by purging ourselves of the pain we can finally arrive at a point where we are able to build a shared society founded on respect for one another.