what is a sentry hill? it is a fairly common name, there are probably at least half a dozen such named sites in ireland. each is likely a site which has at some point in its past seen the custom of posting a sentry watchman on its commanding height – to guard against the approach of some enemy force or threat.

so a sentry hill is a site that derives its identity from its function, from the primacy of the visual and named as such. the work here above perhaps illustrates a sentry hill in reverse, with those notional images seen from upon a height that identify the sentry hill being reversed to images on a height being seen and sketched within a quixotic re-imagining of one of the optical devices of proto-photography from the 19th century, the camera obscura.

the work illustrated above is obscura object, one of a series of works – copper engraving, object, and installation – by artist stephen beckman from 2008. for more on the work see the artist’s essay in photography beyond technique, tom persinger, focal press, 2014.