Global Localism
Handmade Art Without Borders

Monk Climbs (2026)
Pomegranate, Oak Gall, Avocado, Gorse and Cochineal inks on recycled cotton waste paper from India
21cm x 30cm

I make ink from plants and vegetables harvested locally (gorse, dandelion, beetroot), from widely available fruits and vegetables (red cabbage, coffee, pomegranate, walnut), from locally-mined minerals (red ochre), and from imported dried pigments sourced from elsewhere (oak gall, sequoia, brazilwood).

I often use paper made in villages in India from recycled cotton waste, though also papers handmade using traditional processes, from sustainably harvested materials in other places such as Bhutan and Nepal.

Inner Landscape (2026)
Walnut, Madder-Root, Oak Gall, Whin Bush inks on washi-style paper from Nepal
50cm x 70cm
Monk's Long Journey (2026)
Oak Gall and Cochineal inks on handmade paper from Bhutan, coated with yellow ochre
42cm x 30cm

In our time of mass-production, homogenisation, and AI, Global Localism is a proud re-commitment to locally produced, handmade, artisanal art, celebrating a world of local, place-based communities.

It is art which refuses borders but honours the unique diversity places and peoples.

The works are made from Irish-produced inks - most made by the artist himself - applied to traditional handmade papers from round the world. The papers are primarily sourced from India and the Himalayas (Bhutan & Nepal). I buy them from specialist importers with a strong commitment to sustainable and ethical trading practices: Khadi Papers in London and Liberties Papers in Dublin.

From Deepest Earth, A Flower (2026)
Fanad Inks on recycled cotton waste paper, handmade in India
30cm x 57cm

I don’t cut the papers. I use them in the form they reach me. This is one of the ways I seek to respect the artisanal input of the paper-makers. I use what they provide without manipulating it to suit my own conception of what the final work will be..

The edges of handmade papers are often rough - deckled - and pictures in the Global Localism series are mounted to emphasise and celebrate this. The handmade nature of the work is foregrounded within the final framing process. 

Tree and Sun (2026)
Oak Gall and Cochineal inks on elephant dung & recycled cotton paper. 
21cm x 30cm
Monk Was, Is, and Will Be. (2025) 
Brazilwood and Oak Gall inks on paper from Bhutan, mounted on tea-stained recycled cotton paper from India. 
4ocm x 32cm