Toraigh / Tory Island, Eric Luke

“Tory Island is wrapped in richness too, and Luke is one of its great chroniclers. What we see in this book includes the centrality of the boat, securing vital supplies, the foreboding sky, the physicality of the work, the importance of music, and the sea; always the sea, which can be beguiling but also the greatest torment … This book has seared the Tory Island subjects, beautifully and skilfully, for posterity.”

From the introduction by Diarmaid Ferriter

"Lying 14 km (9 miles) off the northwest coast of Ireland, Tory Island or Toraigh (in Irish) is our most remote inhabited island. I first visited there in the 1970s … As there wasn’t a ferry service at the time, the only way to cross that rough stretch of the Atlantic was by hitching a ride on a fishing boat or a vessel carrying cargo. To earn my passage, I helped load a half-decker with bags of turf and rode the waves sitting on the cargo for the one-hour journey.”

Eric Luke

ERIC LUKE

Born in Dalkey, South County Dublin, Eric Luke has always had a passion for photography. He joined the Irish Press Group as a staff photographer in 1973, following a brief stint working in the darkrooms as a photographic printer. Seventeen years later, in 1990, he moved to The Irish Times, covering major news and feature stories both at home and abroad, including two World Cups, five Olympic Games, and assignments in Somalia, Kenya, India, Sydney, Washington, and London. However, his main focus lies at home in Ireland, adding to his personal collection of photographs, documenting the many changes in the Irish people and countryside. Eric has won numerous awards, including the World Press Photo News Award and PPAI Photographer of the Year, over a fifty-year career in photojournalism.

Published by Hi Tone Books
160 pages
Hardcover
246 mm x 245 mm
ISBN  978-1-917445-04-7