April 20, 2013 2:05am I have always had an interest but more recently a fascination with Urbex. For some strange reason I’ve had a natural connection. Urbex is the Urban Explorations of man-made decaying buildings.
The colour, texture and the ghost echo of their decay is a history unfolding before my eyes. This is where I have found most of the inspiration for my exhibition entitled ‘Intruders’ which was hosted at Filmbase, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland, in April 2013.
I spent almost 4 months investigating these sometimes dangerous and often unwelcome places. However, it was their interiors that fascinated me most. What I found with my final selected locations was a really strange beauty in their decay and architectural wonder. Some of the locations are well known to Dubliners – but have never been seen on the ‘inside’ as it were.
It was as an Intruder that I stepped into these abandoned and dangerous buildings. I stepped in Unannounced, Uninvited, Unknown and without permission. I stepped into every building heart thumping, not knowing what to expect with the fear of being caught but I was also stepping into history. I left each building heart thumping and the adrenaline still running through me like a kid who had just got away with some mischievous prank.
These buildings which were without the inhale and exhale of human breath for many years, no human warmth, no conversation or no human attention. Buildings long forgotten and left to die.
These buildings abandoned, alone, dislocated and rotting but they were beautiful buildings. Nature had overtaken their floors with mossed carpets under foot and plants had consumed the windows and walls. Nature pushing and forcing itself back through iron and stone. I was intruding into another world.
So why did I decide to add a twist by adding the nude female form? I did this to contrast the beauty of the dying building with the beauty of the alive nude form.
The perfection and porcelain nude cast against iron rusty rafters and multi toned brick became an unfettered ghost within the building. It seemed like the perfect contrast but in a strange way the nudes looked like they were part of the furniture.
