Mental Health and Photography in Derry-Londonderry
Project 0309 is a series of photographs created in response to personal loss and the wider mental health crisis in Derry-Londonderry. In 2009, my cousin took his own life by entering the River Foyle. The days spent searching along the riverbanks shaped how I see the city, its landscapes, and the silent weight carried by many families.
This gallery documents those search routes. Each photograph is both a record of place and a reflection of grief, resilience, and survival.
The River Foyle – Beauty and Loss
The River Foyle runs through the heart of Derry-Londonderry. It is a place of natural beauty, but it also holds deep association with suicide. These images capture both truths: the flowing lifeline of the river, and the grief it carries for those left behind.
Search Routes Along the Banks
For six days, we walked the same routes by the Foyle. Every bend in the path, every ripple in the water, became charged with hope and dread. The photographs in this section map those routes — places where nature and desperation collide.
Objects Left Behind
Hi-vis vests, fragments of clothing, and traces of the search remain in memory long after the event. These images serve as reminders that loss is never abstract — it leaves visible, physical marks on the world around us.
Photography as Witness
The images in Project 0309 are not staged. They do not romanticise trauma. They are documents of waiting, searching, and witnessing. For me, the camera became a way to hold the weight of what words could not carry.
Suicide and Mental Health in Derry
Northern Ireland has some of the highest suicide rates in the UK. In Derry-Londonderry, the River Foyle has become a site of both community grief and resilience. This project is part of a wider conversation about mental health, trauma, and survival in post-conflict Northern Ireland.
About the Artist
Project 0309 is part of Emotion in Focus, a mental health–informed art practice based in Derry-Londonderry. My work uses photography to translate lived experience — grief, trauma, dissociation, resilience — into visual narratives that can be shared and witnessed.
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