Political/Social |
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This piece entitled
'Empire' was created at the supposed 'end' of the Iraq war, at which point
over a million Iraqis had died and around a thousand US troops. Many years
later the violence continues and the US troops remain. Worse still, the
conflict has spread further in the quest for hegemony and secure oil supplies.
This is not just about the USA, it's about all empires - despite rivers
of blood spilt to prevent it, the collapse will come eventually, coming
down on top of the bleached bones of countless millions who suffered in
a futile attempt to stop the inevitable decline and fall. |
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'Survival' - Despite
our endless building and destruction of the natural world, nature is still
relentless. When humans are one day gone the Earth will most likely spin
on and recover from whatever we can throw at it. |
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'How Much did you
get?' - A blatant critque of the modern world of work. I lived it for
many years until I just could no longer stand the monotony and misery.
It's better to be poor than a slave to the machine. |
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'Bright Future II?' - I really hope this dystopian vision does not come to pass. This version
was inspired by some graffiti I saw on a window. |
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'Bright Future?' -
A somewhat over-the-top collage of what we could end up with if we don't
take a u-turn away from global capitalism and endless consumerism. What
use is an iPod if your drinking water is poisoned? |
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'Let Them Drink Soda' - A visual diatribe against consumerism (with some sarcastic commentary
too), it's generally not until it's too late that we realise how shallow
and useless this mode of existence really is. China and India are rapidly
destroying their landscape and undermining their own cultures in their race
to catch up with the 'West' - seemingly oblivious to the long-term negative
effects on their countries and the planet as a whole. |
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'Bushmonkey' - Perhaps
the most unpopular world leader in modern times, until Trump, although his crimes seem
trivial in comparison to those of Hitler, Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot. Attempts
to impeach him failed due to the corruption inherent in the political system;
but he will still be remembered as probably the most corrupt and asinine
of American presidents. |
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'Dispossessed' - When
I lived in East London in the late 80s and early 90s I saw some really shocking
poverty, things don't seem to have changed! |
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'Tyre Dump' - A really
horrible site on waste ground in inner city Dublin, even amongst the wealth
and up-market lifestyles you can still find terrible deprivation and ugly
sights, often just a few streets away. |
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'Whitechapel Ruin' - East London once again, a huge abandoned factory and its grounds left
to rot, what a waste. |
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'Cyberjunk' - As time
passes more technology becomes redundant and change accelerates ever faster.
Is this change for any real purpose or just for its own sake? Where will
it all end? |
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Environment/Nature |
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'A Wasteland' - This
was once a beautiful woodland, the area was supposed to be replanted but
it never was. This shot was taken just after the logging was completed.
The physical version has a frame made of driftwood and rusty barbed wire
and there is also some additional etching around the edges. |
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'High Cross' - I took
this shot in Ferns, Co. Wexford by lying on the ground. It was an overcast
day so I replaced the sky with another shot and then it gave me the idea
to make it surreal altogether. |
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'Hay Bails' - Shot
in Courtown, Co. Wexford. Again I wasn't happy with the overcast sky (as
is often the case in Ireland) so I enhanced another sky shot and stitched
them together, I've also altered the colour and coarseness of the grass. |
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'Owl' - Shot at Avondale
in Co. Wicklow, the statue is actually wooden, shot in daylight but in this
fake night-time treatment it looks more like stone. |
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'Giants' Causeway' -
Shot in county Antrim, the sky is original but heavily manipulated, as are
the rocks. |
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'Castle Rodrey Stone
Circle' - This may look real enough but the sky and the sun are fake and
the colours are far more vivid than in the original shot, taken in Co. Wicklow
near Baltinglas. |
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'Pink Cactus' - Shot
in Mexico, the sky is replaced and posterised to create the distortion. |
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'Cliffs' - The Cliffs
of Moher in mirror image, with a false sun and sky, this is one of my early
experiments and turned out better than I expected. |
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'Snails' - Shot at
Courtown beach in Co. Wexford. Most of the work here was recolouring the
shot and messing with the grain of the sand. |
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'Digital Dolmen' -
Based on an earlier work of a dolmen close to Newgrange in Co. Meath, that
I used on an album cover. I cut it up and re-assembled it with various treatments
on the segments. |
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'Hyde Park' - Shot
in London, I inserted the lens flare as an inverted sun, the whole shot
is inverted and solarised and then re-coloured. |
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