Clare artists Óscar Mascareñas and Elaine Tucker have found a spiritual home in Ballycuggaran. The Sixmilebridge based artists have made the woods their second home, and have built up a connection to the wildlife and plant life of the locality.
That unique relationship will be the subject of a new exhibition hosted by both artists at Coach House in the People’s Museum of Limerick later this month.
Entitled Transposition, the exhibition is a visual love letter to Ballycuggaran, its striking trees and beautiful animals.
“Elaine and myself used to spend virtually every weekend travelling to different parts of the country taking photographs. We drove to Ballycuggaran and just fell in love with the place and started going there every weekend,” said Óscar.
“We discovered the woods, which aren’t that well known, and we started exploring them and taking pictures of the flora there, there are a lot of very beautiful trees. It is a special place, both the woods and the beach.
“There are very special creatures that live there. Usually people just feed the animals and that is that, but there is a lot of beauty in them that we feel is sometimes underappreciated.”
For Elaine, the connection with the woods and the creatures who live there is something very spiritual.
“It is a very meditative area for us as well. We have spent a lot of time there where it is really quiet. The woods is much less populated by visitors during the hotter months when there is a lot of activity going on in the water. So we are aiming to capture some of the serine moments that happen in that place,” she said.
The exhibition features 14 images, seven from each artist. While Óscar’s work tends to focus on plants and trees and is generally in monochrome, Elaine’s images are in colour and usually have animals as their subject matter.
“I have always been drawn to monochromatic photography, I feel that you can reveal something about the soul of the image in a different way than in colour,” said Óscar.
“I started off taking pictures in colour with one of Elaine’s cameras and then translating them to black and white but then I decided to buy a monochromatic camera. That really allows me to focus on texture and contrast and it is a very good tool.
“There is a contrast stylistically between our work but the two types of media allows us to capture different views of the same subject.”
Elaine’s photographs of wild animals has allowed her to form a deep understanding of the creature who call Ballycuggaran their home.
“You have to be prepared to sit there for hours and study their behaviour. Each time you go back you learn something different about their behaviour, you learn how they act and the times of day that they will be in a certain place,” she said.
“You get to know them really well. Birds in particular are very hard to capture in flight. It comes down to taking many, many photos and sometimes just being in the right place at the right time. But you have to be patient.
“Over time I have built up a great affection for them. It comes from looking at the birds and studying how they interact with each other. The swans are particularly hard, you really do have to stay quite a distance away from them.
“You do develop a real respect and understanding for them, their environment and how they live.”
According to Óscar, Transposition is a compassionate call to recognise and celebrate the interdependence between all living things.
The exhibition will be officially launched on Saturday, September 21, at 5 pm at the Coach House in Limerick. The collection features 14 large images in colour and monochrome and will run from September to October 10 in the Coach House in the People’s Museum of Limerick.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and blogger who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.