Annwn-The Other Place

Annwn [ˈanʊn] meaning The Other World, it is also a place that has geographical entry points connected to thin spaces in Wales and England.

Feathers.

There was a rich smell of decay a sweet furry stink of just beyond edible food, and moss, and leather, and yeast.

Feathers between my fingers, in my eyes, in my mouth, beneath me a feathery hammock lifting me up afoot above the tiled floor.

....

I won’t leave until you don't need me anymore.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers

by Max Porter, 2015

It is the Celtic belief that the division between worlds, (the present, the past, between time, space and place) are connected. That we all leave the earthly bounds and journey to Annwn a place of eternal feasting and merriment. Time and physics function differently in Annwn. On 11 November 1993, my brother made his journey to Annwn, he did not get to travel through water, although it was so important to him, his was not a peaceful journey. This project is about absence and presence about the longing that surrounds grief, it is about my absence at the moment of his passing and my feelings surrounding that.

The project took multiple forms and was a successful collaboration with Giles Watson who proved such a beautiful reading alongside his verse. The project took the for of a series of sculptural books, that try to illustrate the entrance to the portal as well as a hand made dummy book.

The dummy book was shortlisted for the Belfast Photo Festival in 2022 and images from the book being shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society’s IPE 164 in the same year..