About

I am a Wexford-based artist, born and bred on the side of the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland and spent most of my childhood in wellies, sharing the hills with all sorts of wildlife. We had tame foxes and pheasants and I think being so close to wildlife meant I was destined to study ecology and I undertook my degree in zoology/wildlife behaviour in Trinity College Dublin and went on to work in marine research in University College Cork.

 

Over time I travelled to many remote areas to study wildlife including to the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan to look for an undiscovered species of lizard, to the Arctic onboard a whale research vessel and to the Galapagos to observe the amazing wildlife made famous by Darwin's theory of evolution.

  

 

 

I always had a camera in my hands which led me to the world of remote sensing where images of the earth are captured from space. These ‘remotely sensed’ images are used in all sorts of sectors and enabled me to continue adventures and travelling while working, to Patagonia to identify areas of illegal logging with the Chilean forestry agency and to work in Kennedy Space Centre with NASA imagery.

  

 

 

I also work as a rapid responder (information analysis) for global emergencies with Irish Aid and the UN, a job which takes me to many parts of the world including countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to respond to both natural (e.g. typhoons, earthquakes) and manmade (e.g. famines and wars) disasters. This work involved using many imagery sources to analyse needs during emergencies. 

  

 

 

My current methodology for producing art often involves the complex integration of visible and infrared sensors, as well as other types of spectral signatures, similar to work on satellite imagery and analysis. As wild areas shrink and urban sprawls, much of my artwork and imagery now often sits on the boundary of where the wild and urban landscapes collide.