The story behind this year’s Holly Bough cover

For Cork artist Sue Nelson, capturing the stories of people and their connection to place is something which she feels genuinely honoured to play a part in.

A photographer and visual artist, Sue’s artworks often tell the story of places where memories were made.

In fact, Sue says some of the moments that make her work feel most worthwhile are those where she has witnessed how a piece has connected with a person.

“They say, oh, that’s where my husband and I got engaged. We drove down to Kinsale on a motorbike, we had a pint and a packet of crisps, and that was the location of our first date, and that present then was bought as a 30th wedding anniversary gift...They’re the moments that I absolutely love.”

Sue’s cover artwork for this year’s Holly Bough features a familiar cityscape- a view of the city’s docklands and the Port of Cork.

It is one which will resonate with many people who left Cork, who moved here, or who returned home.

“The piece is called Lighting the Way Home and that’s exactly it. It was inspired by the Cork Docklands. The docklands and the Port of Cork have such a significant place in our city’s history and hold so much of our heritage and our stories.”

The piece captures the twinkling lights of the city on the horizon.

“It really is highlighting that mix of new and old Cork now, where the docklands are changing so dramatically... It’s still a real part of the city that holds so much of our heritage,” Sue added.

With a background in engineering, Sue says she loves spending time in the docklands.

“I find it really inspirational. I love that wonderful mix between industry and people’s lives and the stories around the city and how they fit together and knit together,” she says.

It was only in recent years that the Cork woman decided to pursue a career as an artist.

“I started off very much in a traditional background, and I studied science in college and I did a postgrad in science. Then I spent the next 20 years working in engineering, and it was a very traditional 9 to 5 job. I met some wonderful people along the way. I had fantastic experiences, but it was really during covid that I realised I wasn’t where I was supposed to be...That creative side of me was always in the background.. I dipped in and out of painting. It was never prioritised, it was never something that I put any importance on,” Sue said.

It was at this time that Sue decided to change career paths.

“As I said, it was really during covid that I realised I wasn’t where I was supposed to be...I needed to build a more creative life and a more artistic life for myself and tap into those creative talents that I knew were always there underneath the surface.”

Sue admits that deciding to build a creative life, and actually being able to build a sustainable business are very different things.

“Building a business was a massive learning curve. So just because I made the decision wasn’t necessarily that it was going to be successful. I realised pretty early on I needed to learn an awful lot, not just about art and photography, but also about business,” she added.

The risk paid off, and while Sue admits there are moments that she wonders if a career as an artist is too challenging, she has had plenty of moments of success too. Her works have been gifted to visiting dignitaries, she has created an exclusive collection of artwork for Adare Manor, and has an exhibition at Cork’s City Hall in November.

A mixed-method artist, Sue considers herself a visual artist and a photographer.

“My photography I call it graphic photography, but it’s rooted in traditional photography. So the process starts off with me taking a photograph and then using digital illustrations and software, I layer and layer and layer different elements and moments onto the photograph, and then you use digital design to turn it into something almost like a painting in its own right,” she explains.

This process was something that she embraced when creating the cover art.

That piece started off as a picture of a fishing boat in the docklands, moored up on the pier.

“I highlighted both the Port of Cork, and those twinkling lights on the horizon... It starts off as a photograph, but it turns into something that is beautiful."

Sue is not actually the first member of her family to appear in the Holly Bough.

“I was talking to my in-laws, and my husband’s grandfather was in the featured in the Holly Bough before the Second World War. My grandmother, I think, was in it. She had her own business in Cork City for over 20 years (a hair salon on Oliver Plunkett St) and mum worked for her,” she said.

Just like her artwork, Sue says that for her, the stories like these are “all about that connection with people and place and old and new”.