Mhairi Sutherland has explored military archaeologies and their relationship with photography over a number of locations and projects; from Loughs Swilly, Foyle and Belfast Lough, to the east and west coasts of Scotland, and more recently as far afield as Linköpinginin Sweden. Her approach draws both on personal experience and collaborations and partnerships using archives, experimental photography and drawing as connected strands of a larger narrative. Her approach embraces contradiction, chance and association.
Mhairi first came across the main focus of Genesis Lost whilst researching the landscape of derelict military airfields around Lough Foyle. Part of the former Limavady Airbase stood out amongst the more conventional conflict architecture; an isolated, bitumen-black spherical structure, suggestive of an extra-terrestrial form, marked it out as having a particular purpose. The building was an anti-aircraft training dome, conceived, designed and built in order to train WW2 gunners to shoot down enemy aircraft. Over 40 were built throughout the UK in the 1940’s and this is the only one remaining in Northern Ireland.
Mhairi first came across the main focus of Genesis Lost whilst researching the landscape of derelict military airfields around Lough Foyle. Part of the former Limavady Airbase stood out amongst the more conventional conflict architecture; an isolated, bitumen-black spherical structure, suggestive of an extra-terrestrial form, marked it out as having a particular purpose. The building was an anti-aircraft training dome, conceived, designed and built in order to train WW2 gunners to shoot down enemy aircraft. Over 40 were built throughout the UK in the 1940’s and this is the only one remaining in Northern Ireland.
Within these domes photography and the moving image were employed for the first time to help train gunners to improve the accuracy of their firing in combat. Films specially made by Pathé and Ektachrome were projected, with accompanying sound effects, against the interior of the dome, as trainee gunners, using a rotating gun tower, took aim at emerging filmic aircraft in the simulated day and night skies around them. The construction and immersive experience of the domes are acknowledged as being the forerunner of Imax cinema, gaming, VR and video technologies.
- October 26, 2019
