Place #7 Print

Background Built by the British, Fort Dunree is located on dramatic setting of Lough Swilly on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal. It has been an important defensive site down through history and it stood guard whilst Admiral Lord Jellicoe’s fleet anchored in Lough Swilly prior to engaging the German Navy at the Battle of Jutland during World War I. Ownership and control of the fort was transferred to the Irish Free State just before World War II. During the Second World War Irish forces were stationed at Fort Dunree to prevent the warring nations violating the country’s neutrality. Today the main Fort is a museum and houses a display of military memorabilia and artifacts as well as a range of large guns from the 20th Century. It also contains the former living quarters of the soldiers; this is what I was interested in. Investigation Walking around this former army camp is like walking back in time, walking into a different world. It has a unique sense of place like no other. With each footstep you feel the history, former function, protection, war and the mechanical mark of the old Empire. Now in darkness, what’s left standing is something that has a sense of, in many ways a clash or war of being, at least in my mind. An investigation of this military camp finds an abandoned, rusted, weather and time battered corrugated atmosphere with a desolate overgrown haunt that still watches over the Lough. Life here seems dead, in peace. It seems as if they had just walked away, or time took them like all things in nature. What remains is the shell, the essence of former life: a mark. There is so much to explore here, so many questions left to wonder. There is a tension between peace and war, protection and power, a struggle between man and nature under the eyes of time. There is a comparison to life and death, which I found compelling. The buildings once had life marched around them, daily routine, early mornings late nights, hardship, laughter, love and ultimately…. Purpose. Now it is as if the life and sole of these buildings, much like the bodies that worked loved and lived within, has but blown to the wind. The flesh from the bone may be gone but the mark that remains is magical. To explore the decay is to see a new beauty, to reflect upon lives once lived, retracing the footsteps of former and the mark they have left on us and within us. It gives to us a place to escape our world, but also to remember it. Process I made many visits to Fort Dunree during this project. I explored the various areas of the camp and photographed my journey throughout. I decided to focus on the external structures of the buildings of the camp as I seen them as the most evident of the atmosphere and spirit of this detached world. Filtering through a mountain of photographic investigation I selected what I seen as the most atmospheric evidence. I used acrylic paint on an exploration of surfaces, canvas, canvas board, gesso board and hard board. The aim was to explore what surface worked or worked well. I chose a selection of size to vary the atmosphere and perspective. I used similar colors to reality but did make them slightly darker in tone and left the sky white to really give the sense of standing there in the overgrown weather beaten abandonment. Throughout the process I tried to capture the sense of place and what it is like to be a part of this world and its history. The compositions were thoughtful, the marks intentional and the atmosphere inevitable.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:12 W x 9 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:17.25 W x 14.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.