Bloomsday celebrates an ordinary day from which an extraordinary book is based. The 16th June 1904 is the day when James Joyce’s epic modern novel ‘Ulysses’ takes place. June 16th 2019 witnessed lots of fun events at the Embassy of Ireland in Beijing with a play directed by Mario Perez, readings, improv by the Beijing Broads, photo costume booth and of course art. The NorthGateProject founders Fion Gunn, Gulistan and myself exhibited a collection of artworks. We had an exhibition Odyssey the Return in April with Ulysses as the main theme.

I was thrilled to be part of the trio of the reading team. Nancy Fowlkes read some Limericks some written by her and some from the book Ulysses. George Day wrote poetry from the perspective of the character of Blazes Boylan entwining a complicated love affair between Britain and Ireland .

YouKu Link:http://YouKu Link: http://player.youku.com/embed/XNDE2MDY0OTcwMA==

I read the text which accompanies my water video. Swimming is an important part of my life. These swimming videos are filmed in pools, coast lines and lakes on mainland China and in Taipei . For more on this video work please click .

Swim Duck- Blooms thoughts on water as he fills a kettle

Around six months ago when listening to the audio book of Ulysses in Chapter 8 Lestrygonians it describes Bloom crossing an intersection on the corner of Nassau and Grafton street Yeats & Son (opthalmic opticians) where Bloom prices field glasses ( binoculars I presume) Well I was so excited I put down my paintbrush and I dashed to find the family heirloom I brought back from Ireland last Summer. I was thrilled to make the connection! Of course I wore these glasses at the Bloomsday event .

Many thanks to Ambassador O Leary who is a Joyce fan , he opened the event with a reading, also gratitude to Jack Mc Cormack , Olivia and all at the embassy. Also thanks to the various photographers Eric Fauvreliere, Bruce Connolly, Chun Hu and Zhou Jian周建.