Publisher's Synopsis
Emigration has been a constant in Ireland since the Famine. It has been estimated that between 1949 and 1989 over 800,000 people were forced to leave Ireland. Those left behind by family and friends suffered hardship, isolation and passed away, their homes monuments to a bygone age. Visiting the now unoccupied houses, David Creedon felt like an intruder disturbing the spirits that still haunt every room. In some it seemed the last activity was waking the dead, closing the door and leaving the house to the ravages of time. Sometimes the last occupancy could be dated by a newspaper or calendar. Forsaken and forgotten, the houses acquire new life in these hauntingly evocative photographs, the rich colours within the houses in contrast with the poverty of the times.
