Urban trees populate my paintings as I view the tree as a silent witness to the changing use of public space and to the passage of time. They are the lungs of the city, but their vulnerability to human progress is referenced in my paintings by their branches being bare and fractal against a murky sky.  The themes of life, death and temporality thread through all my work and currently focus on the science of biophilia, deforestation and rewilding. My painting Alveoli Hippocastanum references a photograph I took from under a horse chestnut tree at the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin. 

A few years ago during a research trip to UCD anatomy museum I was struck by how a dissected specimen of the airways of human lungs looked like an upside down tree. More recently, whilst researching the health benefits of plants on a biophilia tour in the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin, I recalled my previous observation of trees and human lungs having similar visual properties. The painting Alveoli Botanica developed from a photograph taken from under the canopy of a walnut tree. It is an oil painting on natural sized linen.

Iveagh Gardens From Dissection Room: When medical students lifted their attention from cadavers to gaze out the window, they would have rested their eyes on the fractal patterns of branches from the adjoining Iveagh Gardens. Current scientific research finds that observing fractal patterns in nature reduces stress hormones, and that gazing at the swaying of a tree, or the shape of a cloud, restores our ability to focus on a complex task.