Rebecca
Caffrey

Rebecca Caffrey is a visual artist from Dublin. Her current practice uses digital photography and digital manipulations of architectural and man-made spaces within places of animal captivity. The project implicates Heterotopia, a concept instrumentalised by Michel Foucault. Heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of a utopia or parallel space that contains undesirable bodies to make a real utopian space possible. The zoo is an ideal example of this as it brings together multiple different animals into one space where you wouldn’t see them together. It also acts as a utopian space because it poses no real threats to the animals. 

Using digital photography, I respond to Foucault’s concept by creating a photographic typology of the architectural framed spaces within Dublin Zoo. I used these framings observed in the zoo as a way to highlight the still, empty spaces which are usually filled with people and animals. The framed architectural spaces are used as a guide to invite the viewer into the work and to explore the space inside the frames. I have also used photographic manipulation to create montages that combine multiple architectural and man-made spaces within the zoo. This is in response to how Heterotopia represents a space that contains several spaces – a world within worlds. I have also created a specific display mechanism that enables a relationship with the geographical mapping of Dublin Zoo. This decision was made in response to how a Heterotopic space can be geographically located.  

Caffrey uses the frames within the zoo as a way of highlighting how the zoo creates these utopian or parallel spaces as it brings together multiple types of animals into one large space by replicating the animal's natural habitat.