Shallow Waters.

Lough Neagh is the largest body of water in Ireland & the UK. It connects five counties and is often referred to as a county in itself. The Lough is central to life in the North of Ireland but also has 9% of its catchment area in the Republic of Ireland. 

It is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Europe, and it is dying in plain sight. A perfect storm of pollution, sand dredging, poor regulation, invasive species and archaic ownership is leading to a near collapse of the Lough's ecosystem, most visibly realised through the blooms of toxic blue-green algae in the Lough. 

Folklore suggests many differing accounts of how Lough Neagh ‘appeared’ and folklore plays a huge part in the life of the people who reside upon its shores. People still converge on ‘Washing-bay’ on the Summer Solstice, where it’s long been claimed the water has healing qualities, but this folklore sits side by side with heavy industry and industrial agriculture that is killing the ecosystem of the Lough, despite being at odds with each other. Through a photographic exploration of the landscape, it’s people and traditions, I am charting a thread of connection between the two opposing and incompatible engagements with the shallow waters of Lough Neagh, as it fights a perfect storm of pollution & negligence. 

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