'I'm still climbing that mountain': Cork-based photographer John Minihan talks Beckett, Athy, and his battle with cancer 

John Minihan currently has an exhibition at the National Gallery in Dublin

John Minihan in Skibbereen. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan Vallig

“Cancer is gothic,” says John Minihan. “It likes pessimism. So when I look at myself in the mirror, I always tell myself I’m looking good. It doesn't like that.” 

Over the past few years, Minihan has undergone a number of gruelling procedures at the South Infirmary in Cork, but his cancer is now in remission. “With all the radiography and chemotherapy, I went down to about 53 kilos at one stage,” he says.