Julian Mantoy

Focusing on narratives surrounding the Irish landscape, my research project explores the evolution of Ireland’s visual and cultural relationship with the land, particularly before the advent of photography and paintings. Tracing this information of the often idyllic, romanticised and folklore infused Irish landscape into its contemporary post-colonial, commodified and privatised form, I examine how connections to the past continue to be constructed through visual art and representations of place.

Using a Kantian framework to analyse these artworks, I investigate how both historical and contemporary landscapes are visually interpreted and emotionally understood, paying attention to ideas of beauty, imagination and memory. By engaging with theories of Visual Culture and national identity, my research highlights the ways in which the Irish landscape operates as an imagined and contested cultural space.