Henry's book crowns a great year in Ballina
Henry Wills with former President Mary Robinson and Irish Times picture editor Brenda Fitzsimons at the launch of his book, In All Kinds of Weather, in Mount Falcon Estate, Ballina.
As 2023 draws to a close, Ballina itself is at a crossroads. Behind it lies the turbulent few years weathering the storms of the Covid pandemic and its lingering economic impacts. The past couple of years have seen a revitalisation of the unquenchable community spirit I recall from the heady days of the 1990s. Ahead lies the promise of regeneration through an ambitious green vision to make Ballina Ireland's greenest town by 2025.
I re-engaged with Ballina in early 2023, the scars left by stagnation already vanishing across the town centre. For years, boarded-up shopfronts and 'To Let' signs abounded. An air of decay pervaded the streets. Like so many provincial Irish towns, Ballina seemed trapped by its remote location and lack of economic opportunity.
Yet, out of this decay, shoots of optimism were pushing through the cracks. Led by the Ballina Chamber of Commerce and Ballina Community Clean-Up group, an inclusive grassroots movement emerged during the pandemic focused on reinvigorating Ballina while reinventing it as a green, sustainable and vibrant place to live and do business.
As I walk through the town centre, this reimagining bears visible fruit. Repurposed and once-derelict buildings have been lifted from neglect, and the micro-enterprise hub promises to transform the town centre. The Market Square looks inviting as a pedestrian plaza lined with trees. Imaginative plans are afoot to incorporate a viewing chamber in the middle of the historic salmon weir, allowing visitors to watch wild salmon migrating upriver. Some might point to the visit of US President Joe Biden as a turning point in the town's fortunes, but this visit resulted from a renewed community pride and was not its genesis.
According to the Ballina Chamber of Commerce, when Covid struck, there were already around 20% commercial vacancy rates in the town centre. This increased during pandemic restrictions and reached its highest point in late 2021. The recovery since then has been painfully slow.
Without urgent intervention, there is a genuine risk these chronic issues become further embedded. Tackling such systemic decline requires targeted long-term policies led by Mayo County Council and backed by national agencies. Fine words in a Local Area Plan will not suffice alone.
And yet, despite these challenges, Ballina is more optimistic about its future than ever in the past decade. The breadth of community engagement to develop bottom-up solutions has been genuinely impressive. Such community engagement and its practical support will undoubtedly accelerate sustainable projects. But most of all, local groups' determined, entrepreneurial spirit gives real hope for revival.
The scale of Ballina's ambitions may outweigh its current capacities. But by leveraging the undauntable volunteer spirit, accessing national funding streams and harnessing local commitment, Ballina can become a trailblazer for rural sustainability over the rest of this decade.
Looking back over the year, it held challenges and pleasures. The visit of President Biden, the creation of the historical boards at Dunnes Stores, and the triumphant Messiah concert in St Muredach's Cathedral all added to a very personal and welcome re-engagement with my hometown.
And then there was the added pleasure of seeing the publication of a book of photographs by Ballina's most renowned photographer.
Henry Wills' photographic odyssey, , is a unique achievement in documenting the evolving social fabric of Ballina and its environs over four decades. Its launch was a fitting testament to Wills' stature in the community, attended by an impressive gathering including an ex-president, Taoiseach and EU Commissioner Their presence speaks volumes about Henry Wills' place in Ireland's cultural landscape and Mayo's affections.
With contents spanning over 350 pages, the book chronicles Mayo's subtle yet palpable transformation through Wills' evocative photography. The images transport us back to familiar streets and landmarks that jog our memories yet bear witness to changing demographics and the inevitable passage of time. Wills captures both the county's continuity and ruptures with the past.
His work reminds us of photography's unique power to crystallise history and collective memory. Unlike distracted everyday glances, Wills' lens freeze-frames moments that might usually slip by unnoticed or fade with time. When pored over retrospectively, his images reveal insightful details about fashion, commerce, and the rhythms of daily life. It is also testimony to Henry's charm that many subjects surrendered to the camera with broad smiles and an unaffected informality. It was an honour to pass through that lens and exciting to look forward to the next edition of the and the discovery of the printed image.
There are many colour plates in the edition, but many are black and white, adequate for their use before colour graced the pages of the local press. And incidentally, Wills embraced black and white photography's capacity to strip away distracting colours and present Mayo life in simple monochrome compositions. These have an enduring, timeless eloquence unmatched by colour photography's literalness.
Absent of colour, we notice intricacies of brickwork, clothing, and interiors - brought forth by the contrast between highlight and shadow. Figures squinting against bright sunlight or silhouetted against overcast skies are striking graphical elements, their outlines enhanced against neutral backdrops. Our gloomy winter days feel more atmospheric in sombre grayscale, and dull evenings more serene and melancholy. Conversely, bright summer scenes feel vibrant not through gaudy colours but through brilliant whites and pitch-black counterpoint.
While denied the luxury of colour, these earlier works depend on a black-and-white aesthetic that collapses time, making decades-old images feel contemporary and timeless. They become less dated artefacts, more universal commentaries on life in Ballina - another dimension of the work's resonance and appeal. One of my favourites, using strong blacks and subtle shades of grey, is the young boy at a roadside camp on page 158 (reprinted here).
While black and white photography lends many of Wills' images a signature graphic elegance, his use of colour photography provides an arresting contrast. These capture a Mayo in a saturated, hyper-real dimension - emphasising the county's visual richness and Wills' eclectic eye.
Colour also prominently features where thriving community, commerce, and pageantry are highlighted. The saturated red and green of a Mayo match pops with activity against the riot of a crowded stand. Parade scenes gain kinetic energy and dynamism through vibrant floats and costumes in hot pink, emerald green, and sunflower yellow against crowds in more earthen tones. Where black and white imagines texture, colour communicates the heady days of summer festivals and fields glorious with summer flowers.
These flourishes of colour photography provide contrast to monochromatic austerity. Some feel almost cinematic in dramatic effect, notably the girl group on page 228, which feels popped straight from a film reel.
Instinctively, Wills knew when to deploy colour to maximum effect, his eye perfected within the confines of the black-and-white discipline. The result is a carefully curated and delightful record, capable of reviving memories in the mind's eye through the chronicling of places and rituals in County Mayo over a remarkable 40-year career.
is Mayo and Ballina's portrait through time and a self-portrait of the time refracted through Wills' unique artistic temperament. His curation of disparate moments creates a chronological register and a psychography of our visual and social legacy in all its complexity - an astonishing achievement for any photographer.
