Schwarzweiß — Kevin O'Farrell

Coming soon….

Due to the covid 19 virus the exhibition is on hold and will be re scheduled when things improve

Hegarty’s Boat yard Exhibition start date April 2020 at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Co Cork, Ireland P81 VW98

Hegarty’s Boatyard Last Surviving Traditional Wooden Boatbuilding Yard in Ireland

Photographs by Kevin O’Farrell

In this era of volume-produced fibreglass boats, Hegarty’s yard exists in a world that is fast disappearing – one where skills and traditions are passed down from one generation to the next, and beautiful hand-crafted boats are made with passion and integrity. Hegarty’s yard is the only boatyard in Ireland that has produced such a wide range of hand-crafted wooden boats over the last twenty five years, enabling the revival of the once-lost fishing yawls of West Cork.

Hegarty’s is the last echo of a long tradition of boat building in Ireland that once took place all around our coast. Different areas produced varying local designs, depending on requirements and the sea and weather conditions of the locality. The majority would have been timber built and used for fishing or cargo transportation and a few for pleasure use. Sadly, all the large scale commercial wooden boat builders in Ireland are now gone.

This book is a celebration of all traditional wooden boat builders but most especially the wonderful craftsmen of Hegarty’s Boatyard. This yard was established by Paddy Hegarty shortly after the Second World War, and now his grandson Paddy Hegarty is the third generation of Hegarty boat builders to work at the same site on the banks of the River Ilen. The yard is in safe hands for the future.

Watching these boat builders at work today offers an insight into previous generations of craft workers as their tools and skills remain unchanged. It is an honour to witness this work and to record this important maritime heritage for future generations. While our past heritage is respected and commemorated in museums and publications, there is very little in the way of support for our living craft heritage workers. This book seeks to rectify that anomaly and serves as a tribute to the extraordinary living maritime heritage that is practiced daily in Hegarty’s yard.

Documentary photography captures the essence of a process by recording it through a series of images, creating a visual narrative. My work involves impartially observing how events unfold in front of the camera. I am especially interested in photographing people at work and how they relate to their environment. When people are involved in an activity, they forget about my presence and so the work continues without being influenced by my camera. In effect, this practice means that more time is spent standing around waiting for events to unfold than actually taking photographs. And so the advice of my course director David Hurn, given to me as a young student of photography in Newport, South Wales still holds true – ‘‘always have a good pair of shoes’’!

Kevin O’Farrell Documentary Photographer.