My name is Audrey Gildea and I am a Dublin-based multidisciplinary artist. 'Imaging Ecologies: An Enquiry into Alternative Photography', investigates spaces where natural and man-made forms intersect. It is part of my on-going investigation into alternative image-making. My process-based practice looks outwards to sites of urban nature in Dublin where I question the camera and reduce it to its basic form. I gather materials from my sites and embed them into my work creating an intimate dialogue between the body, the environment, and the image. 'Held Landscapes' and 'Material Arrangement', work in tandem with each other. Held Landscapes is a series of pinhole photographs, taken using a home-made tin camera and developed in the darkroom with plant-based developers. Material Arrangement brings together the core elements used in my process into a sculptural installation. My practice foregrounds the tactile, temporal, and experimental aspects of image-making, inviting a deeper engagement with the landscape and its overlooked ecologies.
