Rich Gilligan - a conversation with Bruce

Rich gilligan bruce tribute

A conversation with Bruce.

The truth is I have been putting off even just thinking about writing this thing for weeks now. Phili sent me more than a few gentle reminders to meet the deadline so I sat down today determined to finally find the words but as expected all I found were tears, big gnarly tears. So I put it off, again. 

Instead I spent the morning looking through some of the photographs I’ve shot with Bruce and tried to pick out a few that I thought he might be stoked on people seeing. In the end I narrowed it down to the few you see here. These would have all originally run at different times in the early to mid 2000’s in Sidewalk, Kingpin & SLAP Magazines. They are all shot on film.

As I was working through the edit I found myself instinctively knowing what he would and wouldn’t like to be included. I was having a conversation with Bruce. This is from decades of knowing how picky he was about what he put out there: “Nah, feck that boy, sure I look like a fuckin’ ejjit in that one and the size of my arse in that?!” I can hear him like he’s right here beside me and he’s laughing and he’s hyped but he’s trying to not seem over the top hyped but it’s all such a buzz and he knows it and I know it and magic is happening and we don’t really talk about it but we both feel it and eventually when a photo gets published in a skate mag and we rush into Tower on Wicklow Street and see it there in print for the first time - we can’t believe our fucking eyes.

The truth is Bruce was so much bigger than a few paragraphs and so much bigger than any of the photographs we made together. So in a way trying to put this all into words feels almost pointless, but I know it’s not. I want the world to know all of his dumb inside jokes, all of his encyclopedic knowledge of early 90’s hip hop, the way he spoke about all of his family with such love & reverence, the way he was able to slam in such insane ways and then pick himself up half laughing/half crying and land it next try. 

His heart was just so open and he quietly spread his unique blend of kindness and encouragement to almost everyone lucky enough to have ever crossed paths with him. This was just the person he was and we all miss him so much that it hurts as hard as the worst of his slams.

The Ox Forever.

Rich Gilligan.

Wicklow. 2022