A FADING LANDSCAPE

BY MARTIN CREGG

Martin Cregg is an Irish photographer and educator living in Dublin. He has exhibited in Ireland and Internationally - recently at 'Illuminations' NUIM, PhotoIreland (2013) Les Rencontres d'Arles (July 2012), the Natural History Museum in Leeuwarden (July 2012) and in Shanghai as part of the 'Postcards from The Celtic Tiger' Group show. Cregg is a member of the international Reflexions Masterclass - presenting work in Basel, Paris, Venice and Lugano in 2010-2011. In 2010 he was one of the Irish nominations for the Prix Pictet. In 2011 his 'Photo Course' project was shortlisted for the FOAM Talent Call. Further in 2012, he is nominated for the Irish Contemporary Award - SHOWCASE at The Gallery of Photography and his ongoing work 'Suspended State' was selected for the FORMAT festival in the UK. Cregg’s work has been published in a variety of magazines and books including ‘Ireland and Photography’ by Dr Justin Carville; ‘Photographies 2002 – 2012’ published by Actes Sud; Magazines such as Source and Irish Arts Review, as well as a list of internationally successful on-line blogs and magazines. His 10 year project 'MIDLANDS' has just been released as a self-published book.

synopsis

‘A Fading Landscape’ is part of an ongoing personal work, which explores my complex relationship to my rural background, a personal sense of heritage and the obligation of tradition connected to the landscape. Since the early 19th Century, generation after generation of my family have maintained the tradition of farming on this land. The work expresses an uncomfortable balancing act between belonging and disassociation. I find myself longing to connect, or reconnect, to the place or to the landscape. But, the overriding impression is one of departure - an ever-unfolding distance and increasing separation.