Paul Kelly

Throughout my childhood the ‘sender’ was my father, Patrick Kelly. Born in County Roscommon, he emigrated to California in the early 1950s. He revisited Ireland often during his new life in America and sent his young family a steady stream of postcards, glossy milestones to measure his quest for historic and natural wonders in the country he always held dear.

When I was 9 years old, I started travelling with my father on many of his visit back home. Westport House in Co Mayo…the stern beauty of Bunratty Castle in Co Clare…grey Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, wreathed in green…he wanted to show me the places and tell me the legends, to build memories that would last a lifetime.

My father died in 2015, and in 2018, I came back to live in Ireland with my family. ‘Return to Sender’ is my tribute to John Hinde, whose jewel-bright Ireland was the stuff of my childhood dreams. It’s also a tribute to my father, who instilled in me an almost mystical feeling for Ireland’s beauty. Revisiting these scenes, it doesn’t matter that the skies are often slate-grey, the grass rarely deep emerald, or that sunshine yellow cars are as rare as flaming red pullovers. Without artifice, transformed and yet true to its past, the magic of Ireland is still there for me.