While most photographers document faded, old buildings with a sense of mourning and nostalgia, Jill Quigley injects her playful images of abandoned homes with anarchic immediacy
�The interventions are intended as a fresh approach to subject matter that would otherwise be considered nostalgic,� explains Belfast-based photographer Jill Quigley, describing the work she�s been making in abandoned buildings in Ireland.
The project came about when she sought a subject to work on during her master�s degree at the University of Ulster in Belfast, whose Photography MFA has gathered much recent praise. �I was drawn to the contradiction between contemporary lifestyle and all the historical aspects that linger in rural places, such as the area where I grew up in County Donegal,� she explains.
�When I was walking around looking for inspiration, I came across many of these little abandoned houses. The problem was that the kind of imagery associated with places like these purports to document a disappearing way of life, and that wasn�t something I wanted to replicate. By painting things or throwing [something] the moment I took the photograph, I aimed to emphasise the present tense. Thankfully, due to the redundant nature of the spaces there was no need to be subtle. And, rationality aside, I relished the chance to create my own secret world within the local community, hidden inside these empty cottages.�
Cottages of Quigley�s Point marks a departure from her previous work, and she admits that she�s still very much in the middle of it, working out her ideas. �I�ve always loved street photography as I enjoy the game of pulling images from the chaos all around you. The staged elements of the project came about as a response to a problem I was having with the subject matter, I hadn�t necessarily planned to work in that way,� she says. �During the course of my research for the project I came across the building cuts of Gordon Matta-Clark and John Divola�s Zuma series, and I realised how transformative and exhilarating the effects of intervening in abandoned architectural space can be.� Ultimately Quigley would like to conceptualise it as a publication, seeing it �as a kind of alternative local history book�.
Her�images were recently displayed at Belfast Photo Festival as part of a group exhibition called �House and Home� with Vincenzo Pagliuca and Diego Saldiva and�the FreshFaced + WildEyed exhibition in The Photographers� Gallery in London.
See more of Jill�s�work here.
First published in the January 2014 issue. You can buy the issue here.
Started out doing photography at the age of 6 using an uncle's old 1940 kodak brownie box camera. At 15 years of age, I decided to buy my very own 1975 Praktica SLR camera. I now shoot with a Nikon D850. I do unpaid TFP and commercial paid work.