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- Anna O’Leary
Anna
O’Leary
is tírdhreach í
‘is tírdhreach í’ is an eight-part photobook series that explores the relationship between colonialism, patriarchal structures, and environmental degradation. The series begins by discussing the impacts of British imperialism on the Irish landscape, focusing on the feminisation of our land. This research then progresses to examine the containment of the sexualised female body within the Irish landscape. By considering landscape as a visual construct fabricated by man, one can see that both nature and woman are reduced to objects of observation. Ultimately this series theorises that the unseeing masculine gaze one looks at the landscape through acts as a catalyst for environmental decline.
Through deliberate manipulation of scale, these diminutive books mirror societal perceptions of femininity, echoing the scrutinising gaze directed at the female body. Complemented by a looming large-scale landscape photograph, the project prompts viewers to re-evaluate the lens through which they view the landscape. “is tírdhreach í” serves as a condensed critique of this hegemonic masculine gaze, traversing the West Coast of Ireland through film photography and extensive research.