X-PO Peter Rees Archive

Peter Rees is a truck driver who has driven the roads of North Clare documenting the changing face of his parish for nearly thirty years. He has amassed an extraordinary collection of photographs, which is collated chronologically and housed in a small office in his house. A selection of 1000 images were made from more than 25,000 photographs in the collection. These images told some of the stories of the communities and history of Kilnaboy. The photographs were scanned, reprinted and organised chronologically into albums and placed in the kitchen where visitors could look at them at leisure.  A further selection of 80 photographs was also projected in a separate room allowing for a collective experience of local history. During the exhibition the X-PO was kept open six days a week, daytime and evenings. It was hosted by Peter and his family and invigilated by volunteers over the three weeks and drew in over five hundred visitors, many returning for repeated visits.

Peter’s photographs have featured in the A.C.A. Publication BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE edited by Sean Lynch and Deirdre O’Mahony (2021)

X-PO was funded with an Arts Council Project Award and by SuperValu