Faslane
This body of work focuses on the landscape surrounding Faslane, one of the UKs three naval bases and the home of our Nuclear weapons. It is the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Scotland, and also a Defence Equipment and Support site. However it is best known as the home of the United Kingdom's Trident submarine force.
The photographs concentrate on their presence in the landscape. It is due to the efforts being made to conceal that the area has such an atmosphere. I was concerned with the contrast between the rugged natural beauty of the area and the extreme violence inherently suggested by the MOD.
The interest in the subject matter springs primarily from a childhood in Northern Ireland, where I was instinctively aware of not only the presence of military but also paramilitary forces. I became aware of clues or signals in the landscape and the underlying implications that go with them. Perhaps that is why I recognised so readily, when visiting the area numerous times as a child, the hidden presence, under the skin of foliage, water and rocks..
There are indicators in the images but moreover they have a sense of something hidden. The project intends to convey to the viewer the feeling one has walking in the fields around Faslane. To the untrained eye the landscape is fairly unremarkable, no different to the surrounding Scottish hills. Yet unknown to many the mountains are hollow, filled with arms and the landscape is filled with MoD markers, fuel tanks, barracks and surveillance equipment.
