Focusing on the extraction of rock from a mountain shaped over hundreds of millions of years, McCann explores the tension between geological time and human labour. His photographs reveal the layers, cuts and traces left by quarrying, while also turning attention to the workers who shape the landscape, many of whom have travelled from Lithuania.
Connecting this remote Atlantic site to wider histories of migration, labour and the movement of skills across Europe, Deconstructing a Mountain considers photography and quarrying as parallel acts of selection and revelation, inviting us to see landscape not as fixed, but as something continually made and remade.
Artist Bio
Fionn McCann’s photographic practice investigates the ways landscapes carry the traces of time, labour, and memory. Influenced by a background in archaeology, McCann’s approach photography as a form of observation and enquiry, exploring how places are continually shaped by both natural processes and human activity.
Working through sustained, research-led projects, McCann is drawn to sites where geology, industry, and cultural history intersect. His photographs are less concerned with documenting landscape than with revealing the relationships between people, material, and place. Central to the work is an interest in photography’s ability to look slowly and question conventional ideas of permanence and change.
Images: 01. Fionn McCann, Deconstructing a Mountain, Untitled, 2026, Archival Print, 65 x 56cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
02. Fionn McCann, Deconstructing a Mountain, Untitled, 2026, Archival Print, 65 x 56cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
03. Fionn McCann, Deconstructing a Mountain, Untitled, 2026, Archival Print, 65 x 56cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
Instagram @fionnmccann
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