The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
IMAGES of a former Clare convent building feature in a new photography book that captures the eerie beauty of abandoned buildings the length and breadth of Ireland.
The exact location of the convent has not been disclosed in order to deter vandals, but the black and white photos taken by Down native, Rebecca Brownlie, speak of a bygone era of prayer and sacrifice.
The images feature in Rebecca’s book Abandoned Ireland, which includes a total of 150 scenes from abandoned Big Houses to humble cottages, schools to prisons, churches and dance halls. Rebecca’s publisher, Merrion Press, said that while these buildings may now be abandoned, they are far from empty.
“As a photographer, Brownlie’s instincts are remarkable,” her publicist said. “In the seemingly ruined and mundane she finds diamonds in the rough; her images of the ordinary ephemera of past lives – dusty love letters, rusting spectacles, photographs yellowed and curled with age – paint the pictures of real people and full lives.
“Rebecca Brownlie’s photography reverberates with the echoes of our ancestors. Bursting with engaging and often surprising details, each haunting photograph is an invitation to immerse yourself in history, and an Ireland long gone.”
Remarkably, Rebecca has had no formal training in photography and managed to pursue the Abandoned Ireland project while working full-time for a pharmaceutical company.
The project saw Rebecca travel the length and breadth of the island of Ireland visiting and documenting all kinds of forgotten buildings, in a bid to highlight their social importance, and bringing their stories back to life through the medium of photography.
Rebecca grew up in a small rural village in County Down. When she was just 12 years old, she won her first camera on a TV game show and her love of photography was sparked. From that day on, a camera is rarely far from her side.
Her passion for abandoned buildings and love of photography have led her to appear on several local television shows, featuring some of Ireland’s lost buildings. She is an avid adventurer, and can be regularly found hiking up mountainsides with her four-legged friend and children in tow.
