Touring

Paradeisos – Patrick Shanahan

In Paradeisos Patrick Shanahan observes, from a discreet distance, the transformation of a post-industrial landscape - the disused clay pit Bodelva - into the Eden Project, a postmodern themed leisure park. Shanahan started working on Paradeisos in October 1998, just before the contractors moved in. The Eden Project is now one of Britain’s most successful tourist attractions. His suite of large-scale colour photographs surpass a straightforward documentation of the building process, and challenge the scheme’s glossy promotional literature and imagery at the same time. A minimalist composition and delicate treatment of colour, combined with a detached viewpoint, result in hyper-real images of pale abstract luminosity which emphasise the artificiality of contemporary environments, inviting the viewer to reflect on the simulated spaces which increasingly surround us. As if observing another civilisation, Shanahan scrutinises how the real and the fabricated merge into an uneasy alliance: "The project addresses issues of mediation within an increasingly artificial world and seeks to engage with notions of landscape as a cultural construct." In Shanahan’s almost forensic studies the human presence in this man-made "global garden" (as described in the Eden Project’s press text) appears as incongruous as the Eden Project’s gigantic domes which invade and colonise the Cornish landscape. Patrick Shanahan was born in 1955 in Manchester, and holds an MA (1982) and PhD (2001) from the Royal College of Art. He now lives in Cornwall. He has received financial support from Arts Council England to conclude the research and development stages of Paradeisos.

A Ffotogallery touring exhibition in association with Oriel Mostyn.