Valdis Alijevs

valdis0517@yahoo.ie Website

Old Military Road

My project is based on the Old Military road, located in the Wicklow Mountains. It was built in 1809 to open up the mountains to the English military and assist them in putting down the remaining insurgents from the 1798 uprising. I am documenting the legacy that was left behind after colonialism,

I consider our relationship with landscape through the people who live in this place, engaging with themes of rural life, culture and history. Hence, I photograph some of the different cultures that have shaped the landscape, such as horticulture and tourism. Different stories and folklore are associated with this site. My process revolves around returning to the same location repeatedly in order to record the subtle variations in the landscape, how it changes over time, and exploring the balance between nature and man’s intervention in it.