Middle Cork

This film photography project features ongoing documentation of the area I have come to call ‘Middle Cork’.

‘Middle Cork’ refers to the part of County Cork to the West of the city that is not in what people would consider ‘true’ West Cork. ‘Middle Cork’ covers the places where inhabitants and visitors can only say they are in County Cork on their way to West Cork because to say otherwise would seem misleading. When you head north from Blackpool in Cork City you are in North Cork. When you head east from Little Island you are in East Cork. Some refer to the area south of the city as South Cork but this term is rarely used. However, for some reason when you head west from Ballincollig you will not be in West Cork for at least an hour. For that hour you are in ‘Middle Cork’.

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When you start to look at the designations from a technical perspective the most reliable means of delineation seems to be that of electoral divisions or Local Electoral Areas (LEA). These firmly divide up the county with no ambiguity. In this regard areas of ‘Middle Cork’ are aligned with true West Cork place names or they are firmly disassociated with those places. Although some might argue that Bandon and Kinsale are at the edge of West Cork the electoral division of which they are part does not bear the name West Cork, it is simply Bandon-Kinsale LEA - 6, whereas the divisions to the west of it are called Skibbereen-West Cork LEA - 5 and Bantry-West Cork LEA - 4.

Administrative divisions aside what defines Middle Cork for me is the liminal nature of places that for better or worse miss out on clear associations with an area that has a branded identity such as West and East Cork. For the inhabitants of Middle Cork these in-between places are home, often for generations, with clear tribal and political affiliations tied into GAA or historical events. For the ‘blow-ins’ it is simply a more affordable place to live and commute from. These are the places most of us drive through, past or around and rarely find reason to stop, our mission always lying beyond.

Although technically I live in the north-east corner of the electoral division of Skibbereen-West Cork LEA - 5, I feel like I live in the middle of Middle Cork and my daily commute takes me though more of Middle Cork until I cross the city bounds just west of Ballincollig. Middle Cork has become my reluctant muse, suspiciously resisting my attempt to give it an identity of its own.

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