IN THE FRAME
Flag No. 45
As the pandemic restrictions slowly lifted in mid-2020, I began driving around the country with my camera, taking smaller roads, avoiding the motorways.
The recent lockdown had given a rare glimpse of deserted cities and empty streets. Travelling through the still-quiet country fired my imagination, making me think of a more long-term situation when that would be the norm.
I started thinking about statehood, what it really means, and what this island will be like after it’s no longer a nation state. It struck me that the nation state is by definition a wholly inadequate structure in terms of meeting the current global challenges.
The landscapes I shot on these journeys blur the lines between documentary and dystopia, and have become glimpses into a probable future.
Flag No. 45 was taken around the back of a deserted bungalow on the outskirts of Navan earlier this year. Like many others in the show, it carries us through portals, across boundaries, inside the abandoned and toward the unknown.
Rooted as they are in an all-too-real climate of rising temperatures and political extremism, the images in Post-State are a personal attempt to make sense of this global crisis.
Despite the unsettling themes underpinning the images, I’ve found making this work a very rewarding process, and am very glad of the opportunity to present it in the RHA.
I also look forward to showing this body of work more widely around the country, in order for it to engage as many people as possible.
Post – State runs in the RHA (Ashford Gallery) until November 14.
