A Callus Island

A Callus Island is a mini-skin-sculpture made from my skin during my emigration from Ireland due to the lack of liveable employment, and housing. Measuring just 2.3cm by 1.2cm, this flat, miniature monument recreates the island of Ireland on a skin shaving taken from the callus, hardened foot skin formed while working abroad.

Installed on the stage of a digital microscope, the magnified cut-out of the skin is expanded on an LCD screen unveiling the unseen ridges and divots of the microscopic island. As an Irish generation leaves it’s home in search of a quality of life it’s own country cannot provide, A Callus Island provides an honest depiction of a land carved into the skin of it’s citizens, but one that they no longer stand on.

When exhibiting A Callus Island within the Island of Ireland, each installation is unique as Kevin pinpoints and magnifies the location it is installed in. The photos above were captured at R-Space Gallery in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and examine the gallery’s location on the micro-map.