Animating the Atlantic coast

The sea has a way of infusing the faces of those who live and work beside and in it, as depicted in the Neptune-like visage of fisherman Rainer Klauss (right) from Kinvarra. In her book Ireland’s Atlantic Shore – People and Places from Mizen to Malin (Collins Press), photographer Valerie O’Sullivan captures not only the land and sea of the west, but also the people and animals that animate the coast.

While the sea visibly seeps into the souls of people such as John Patrick Murphy of Valentia RNLI and Johnny Clochartaigh, depicted wrestling seaweed in Connemara, animals stand passively against the dramatic scapes: sheep camouflaged on Sheep’s Head and cows oblivious to the Bronze Age tomb they graze beside in Ballinskelligs.

There are beautiful contrasts with people too, from surfers cutting a straight line through frothy waves, a windsurfer suspended above them and a kayaker dressed in yellow, small against the dark, looming Fastnet Rock.

Like all good artists, O’Sullivan shows us what we have in a new and bright light. Emma Cullinan