As an Artist my work often explores the living relationship between man and nature. It can generally take its shape through video, photography or physical sculptural forms. Sub themes of my work also encompass identity, territory and time. In the past I liked to work with organic materials and some of my pieces have included living forms such as plants, animals and insects.
This video piece was the culmination of several different projects undertaken throughout the final year of my Fine Art degree.
The concept for this piece came from my observations and critical views of the global economy, political spheres and the public’s views towards climate change and their destructive impact on our natural environment.
Through the use of this mysterious hooded character I wanted to portray and explore the symbiotic relationship that man has with nature.
“Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature. Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is the God he’s worshipping” – Hubert Reeves
The Portable Greenhouse on the character’s back, houses a plant which releases oxygen, keeping him alive in the now inhospitable environment in which he lives. In turn, the character exhales carbon dioxide from which the plant needs to live. One can’t survive without the other.
I am extremely lucky to live in the west of Ireland, but more specifically County Clare. A significant number of points of interest on the Wild Atlantic Way exist in Clare, giving it some excellent landscape with a wide variety of terrains. For the setting of this video, I needed somewhere desolate, isolated and devoid of life. All of these needed to come together to give the sense of loneliness and that ‘post-apocalyptic’ feel. A few different locations were explored before filming, including an abandoned Asylum building in Ennis town, known as Our Lady’s Hospital. Eventually I settled on Lough Acrow Bog just outside of Lisseycasey. For me, the bog had it all, dead vegetation, scorched trees from bog fires and a family’s deserted farm houses. Most segments of the video were able to be filmed on that location as a result. The terrain was very difficult to walk along with lots of holes and the risk of sinking in to the bog at any time. Add a Portable Greenhouse and a gas mask with poor peripheral visibility in to the mix and you get pretty precarious stroll through the bog. Luckily nobody broke a leg in the making of this video!
The video was produced by myself in collaboration with peers, talks of expanding on the concept once again have come to light recently. The beautiful score was produced by my friend Lorcan O’Toole who produces under the name FaL (Fear and Loathing). His attention to detail and knowledge of sound brings so much depth to the projects we work on. Check out his Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/falire
