At the Forest’s Edge

Matt Glover

Belfast School of Art, Ulster University

The Kockaturk family lives on the edge of Glenarriff Forest. They emigrated from Turkey to Northern Ireland around 17 years ago to start a family. I was interested in why they chose to live on the edge of a forest in Northern Ireland and also if there were Turkish cultural influences for them there. I started focusing mainly on their two teenage sons, Jack and Patrick, who live very masculine lives in their forest environment. I found this interesting because of their age, competitiveness, and closeness. But there is also some degree of tension and separation because they are at very different stages of thier lives.