Photography

Archival pigment prints from the sacred landscapes and liminal places of England and Scotland

 

Artist’s Statement:

Exploring the Liminal Spaces with Photography

My first trip to Ireland in 2001 remains the most inspirational event of my art career to date, and travel remains a major resource for my artwork. In addition to lending imagery for my symbolic figurative paintings, the stunning vistas of Ireland inspired a new series of landscapes in three media, including small-format black and white film photography. I have always used my color photography as reference material for my visionary paintings, while I developed and printed these black and white fine art photographs in the darkroom.

Following my 2010 trip to England, I realized that one particular color photograph — The Track to Nowhere — needed no figurative elements or symbolic additions to make the desired statement. Rather than copy this and other photos in oil or pastel, I decided to print these compositions as artworks in their own right. Freed by the use of digital media, I considered the color in these images to be an important visual element, so in 2012 I began to offer these works as archival pigment prints.

With my photography, I explore some of the same concepts that I address in my visionary paintings. However, I only employ photo editing software to adjust each image to the natural color as I remember it, and to make other basic corrections – all visual elements are naturally occurring. For example, Dunnottar Ghost is an ephemeral self-portrait, created with a tripod and long exposure, inspired by many documented hauntings of the Scottish castle. In my Loch Ness series, I use the mystery of the Loch and Nessie, its famous but elusive inhabitant, as a metaphor for the power of belief, perception, the unseen, faith, and the depths of the subconscious.

As in my visionary paintings, I ask viewers to question their assumptions of the physical as reality and offer a perspective where the tangible coexists with a more fluid spiritual realm. I depict my extraordinary experiences at sacred sites and liminal places in Ireland, England, and Scotland, creating a space where such distinctions are challenged as I investigate the role of art, belief, and the power of positive thinking on the healing process. Through all my works, I seek to directly engage the community, reconnecting city dwellers to a meaningful connection with nature through the peace and transformation it symbolizes.

Please inquire about my small format black and white silver gelatin prints from the Aisling: an Artist’s Vision of Ireland series.