In 1990, I worked on a building site near Green Park in London. Many of the men were Irish, and among the concrete gang, some spoke Gaelic as they worked. Hearing the Irish language rise above the noise of drills and steel was unexpected—an echo of home in the heart of a foreign city. These photographs capture a moment when hard labour, exile, and heritage came together in the dust and light of a changing London.
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Several countries 2025
“Peter wanted to capture what he saw on his travels. Drawing and painting felt too slow, but in 1976 he discovered that the camera was perfect. With just a couple of lenses and a few rolls of film in his pocket, he could create memories to last a lifetime—each picture telling its own story.” www.instagram.com/colnagoeps/
Paris, France | 1992
At Bastille in 1992, the streets filled with voices against racism. I went there with my camera, not only to follow the march but to look outward, to the edges, where life carried on. Among the crowd I found the quiet faces of bystanders—those who paused, watched, or simply passed through. These photographs hold that tension between history and the everyday, where a city’s ordinary rhythm brushed against the urgency of protest.
Paris, France | 1992
In 1992, Bloomsday at the Collège des Irlandais in Paris brought together lovers of James Joyce’s Ulysses for a day of readings, music, and celebration. The historic building on the Rue des Irlandais, once a home for Irish students in exile, became a lively stage for actors, scholars, and expatriates to honour Leopold Bloom’s odyssey through Dublin. In the intimate courtyard and vaulted rooms, excerpts were read in both English and French, traditional Irish tunes filled the air, and conversations flowed late into the evening—keeping alive a Parisian tradition of celebrating Joyce where history, literature, and the Irish diaspora meet.