LONDON LIVES: Irish migrants don’t feel detached in multi-cultural London

Jenny McGovern

Finn Keenan and his girlfriend Miriam Phelan made the move to across the Irish Sea in January of this year. For the young couple London is to be their base for the next few years, as the latter begins her masters degree in History of Design. For them London is the perfect place to spread their wings without feeling too isolated.
It’s hard to imagine a time when camcorders were reserved for birthday parties and school sports days, yet playing around with a camera has always come naturally to Corracanvy-native Finn. Growing up with a video camera in the house allowed him to make lots of short films with his cousins. At age 14 a serious knee injury left him housebound and immobile for months; with only a computer to occupy his time he taught himself basic video editing, inadvertently developing a real passion for filmmaking. He hasn’t stopped since.
After graduating from IADT in 2011 with a degree in Film and Television Production, Finn watched many of his friends emigrate. However, he chose to remain in Ireland to build up his portfolio of work. A brave move in the ever evolving media world and today a quick YouTube search of his name will deliver an impressive and entertaining canvass of work. Perhaps most recognised is the award-winning RTÉ web comedy series The Begrudgers, in which he was director of photography. There are also more than 50 music videos he has directed, shot and edited as part of his innovative Havagawk channel.
Coras Point-native Miriam meanwhile excelled in her BA degree in Fashion Design in NCAD. Her final year fashion design collection entitled Modular Collectives explored uniformity and identity in clothing, receiving high praise from the fashion industry.
On completing her studies in Ireland she availed of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, an EU sponsored work placement scheme and embarked on a three-month internship with a designer in Paris.
Speaking from their home in Stepney Green, East London, the independent filmmaker and budding fashion designer speak told the Celt of why, despite their rising success in Ireland, they made the decision to relocate to London, and offer an insight into the type of lives the new generation of Irish emigrants are experiencing.

Natural progression
“Moving to London seemed like a natural progression for me,” Finn said. “After finishing college I spent two years freelancing on various projects in Cavan and Dublin.
“Although I was really enjoying the work that I was doing, I wanted a change of scenery. Miriam had recently graduated from NCAD with a fashion degree. She had spent some time living in London and Paris and preferred the buzz of London life.
“It’s such a vibrant place, where we can both develop our careers, and so we decided to make the move.”
Miriam had always envisioned living in London when she finished her studies in Ireland.
“A couple of years ago I spent a summer living in London on work placement with a designer. I knew that London offered so much more in terms of gaining experience in the fashion industry,” she explained.
Finn and Miriam are an example of a new generation of Irish emigrants, ambitious young people who are leaving our shores not out of necessity but rather as a conscious decision to better themselves and further their career. The world is so accessible to this generation that leaving home is not the ordeal it was decades ago.
Cheap, frequent flights means they’re never far from home (total travel time from London to Cavan buses, planes and trains permitting is four hours - on a good day) while Facebook and Skype, too, helped bridge the gap, allowing them to remain connected to the world they’ve left behind.
Key to Finn’s work in the UK has been his appointment as official videographer to rising local rock starlets The Strypes. His close professional relationship with the band has allowed him to become part of their success story as he accompanies the band documenting their writing and recording sessions as well as their incendiary live performances.
Working with The Strypes has also afforded Finn some other great opportunities. Impressed with his body of work, Mercury records (The Strypes’ record label) have already commissioned him for several other projects.
Because of the nature of his work, Finn travels home to Ireland quite frequently and admits this has had an impact on his integration into the Irish community of London.
“Because I travel home a lot with work, I get to see my friends and family a good bit. I haven’t gone out of my way to look for other Irish people who live here but there are a few friends from Dublin who live near my area and I meet up with them the odd time,” he said.

Multi-cultural
Miriam agrees: “I moved over here with Finn and have quite a few friends from NCAD who live over here. I don’t feel as though I’m moving in an Irish circle. The people I have met and the friends that I have made here are from all over the world, and that is what I love about living here. You don’t feel the need to find an Irish community - it’s so multi-cultural that feeling detached is never an issue.”
This casual attitude towards finding a community of Irish people speaks volumes about the current wave of emigrants, where in the past an Irish person would have gone straight to the local GAA club or nearest Irish pub in search of a familiar accent.
The move to London has been a “smooth one” Finn says, and he hasn’t encountered many difficulties settling into his new surroundings. “I’ve been living here for seven months and my experience has been a positive one. The cost of living is the biggest difficulty. But you just make allowances for it; it’s really no different than living in Dublin, except that it’s much, much bigger. I love the fact that I’m constantly seeing new parts of the city, it feels like I could live here all my life and still not see everything that it has to offer.”

Demanding
For Miriam the move has been more demanding in terms of her career direction. She began an internship with a fashion designer but quickly realised how cut-throat the London fashion circle is.
“The London fashion industry was much more demanding and stressful than I’d anticipated, even from my previous work experience in Paris. I wasn’t prepared for it.”
However she believes despite the initial culture shock she has gained much valuable experience from it. “London has opened a lot of doors for me, including the opportunity to undertake an MA degree at the Royal College of Art. This not only facilitates a new career direction but will provide me with a wealth of contacts and industry links. It’s something I’d never have had access to in Ireland.”
The couple have no immediate plans to return home, and although they are still deeply connected to their lives in Cavan they are excited to see what future opportunities London life will afford.