Fiona Hackett

Fiona Hackett (Ireland) has been practicing as a photographer for about ten years. In her earlier career, she worked as an organizational psychologist in management consulting, returning to her first love of photography when she undertook a degree in photography at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire. In her photographic practice, Hackett has mainly been interested in exploring the insecurities of contemporary times and experiences expressed through landscape, place and space. Her work has been exhibited in a number of group and solo exhibitions and published in international journals. She completed a practice‐led doctoral research titled ‘Terra Incognita: Photography, Seismology and The Imagining of Southern California’ at University College Dublin, Clinton Institute of American Studies in 2012.

Extraterritorial Spaces

‘Extraterritorial’ is the term used to describe the status enjoyed by diplomatic missions under international law. The term means that the diplomatic mission is considered part of the territory of its home country rather that being part of the host country and, as a result, is exempt from local law. The host country may not enter the representing country’s embassy without permission and, as such, is a part of another country within Ireland.  Within the context of these extraterritorial spaces, the images explore how culture influences and changes the space. These interior spaces become metaphors for social and cultural relations – the inter-relationship between the culture of the host country and the home country and the intra-relationships between different countries across the world. In these spaces of culture it becomes possible to consider the geopolitics of boundaries and borders, the development of globalization, how cultures define and mark identity, and ultimately how we make sense of and live in this world.

During the course of the project, permission is sought to photograph the room typically used to host receptions in these embassies based in Dublin, Ireland. Though some refuse, most have been happy to allow permission.

www.fionahackett.eu