Under a grey sky

Gallery of Photography, Meeting House Sq, Dublin Tues- Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 1-6pm Until Nov 15 01-6714654

Made over four years, Simon Burch’s large-scale colour photographs explore a distinctive landscape: the peatlands of Ireland. Burch does so in terms of the vast expanses of “gouged and scarred terrain” leading to distant horizons and people who live in proximity to, and whose lives are inextricably linked with, these extraordinary landscapes. They are environments shaped by human intervention and exploitation, and their time is running out.

Over the next 15 or so years, Burch says, the turf will be depleted and production will cease. The peatlands as we know them will be transformed as the land is put to other uses, whether agricultural or recreational.

Burch, born in Bangor in 1964, has been based in Dublin since 1996 and has exhibited in several venues here, as well as winning many awards. His photographs also feature in a new, limited-edition book that shares the exhibition’s title. Under a Grey Sky includes a text by Justin Carville.

CAN'T CATCH THAT? CATCH THIS

Remembrance Kevin Kavanagh, Chancery Lane, Dublin Until Oct 31