“I found myself drawn to Agnes and John’s house in Kerry. I became fascinated with its religious imagery and rituals that are so different from where I grew up in France. I began making photographs as a way of drawing closer to the couple who so generously welcomed me into their world.
Over many visits, they became family. These photographs document daily rhythms, gestures, and quiet moments where familiarity deepens and distance dissolves. Captured on film for its tangible qualities, the work reflects the intimacy and connection formed over time.
“We are delighted to have you here,” they often tell me, and I always look forward to returning.”
The accompanying photobook brings together 29 photographs selected from the wider body of work. Designed to invite multiple reading, the book can be experienced at different paces and from different perspectives. As viewers move through the book, they are invited to form their own connections, allowing the image to resonate with memories and experiences of their own.
Interwoven with the colour photographs are Laura’s more personal snapshots — in black-and-white, introducing a subtle ambiguity between insider and outsider perspectives. While the work overseas a place and the people who inhabit it, it also acknowledges the artist’s own presence within that landscape. By the end, the distinction between observer and the guest begins to dissolve: Laura, too, has become part of the furniture.
The first edition of We are delighted to have you here was produced in a limited run of 50 copies and has since sold out.
Rather than presenting the photographs as isolated images, the exhibition incorporates elements of Agnes and Johns’s home into the gallery space. Floral wallpaper, lace doilies, family photographs, religious objects, and domestic furniture echo the environment in which the work was made, inviting visitors into a space that feels both personal and familiar.
The installation extends the themes of the project beyond the photographs themselves. By bringing fragments of the home into the gallery, it offers an encounter not only with images, but also with the objects, textures and everyday rituals that shaped the relationships at the heart of the project. Visitors are invited to move through the space as guests, blurring the boundary between home and exhibition.
The images above show the installation of We are delighted to have you here during Laura’s graduation exhibition in June 2026 at Griffith College Dublin. Visitors are first invited to read the project statement and pause in front of the holy water font, referencing the religious imagery and rituals that initially drew her to Agnes and John’s home. A door mat then marks the transition into the second part of the installation, encouraging viewers to symbolically cross the threshold and enter the house.
The interior is evoked through floral wallpaper and a wooden table reminiscent of the home’s furnishing. Displayed on the table is a family photograph and a self-portrait displayed in old frames, alongside the photobook and personal objects that remind Laura of her now grandparents. These elements complemented the colour photographs presented on the walls, creating a dialogue between personal memory, family history, and the lived environment that shaped the project. Through this installation, visitors were invited not only to view the work, but to experience something of the warmth, intimacy, and hospitality that inspired it.
We are delighted to have you here was shortlisted for Photo Ireland’s Research and Development Artist Residency (RADAR) and longlisted for the RDS Visual Art Awards. Receiving these recognitions following its graduate exhibition has encouraged the project’s development and future presentation.
“Thank you to Agnes and John O’Sullivan,
and to those I hold as family, whether by blood or by choice.”