Heaven and a Hard Place, Frank Keane

In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve live out their post-banishment days somewhere “east of Eden”. In Frank Keane’s photobook, 'Heaven And A Hard Place', the rocks that form Dún Laoghaire pier appear to be doing something similar. 

Keane’s playful lens finds subtle anthropomorphic details among these rocks, presenting a gallery of exiles pressed into a life of toil and service, now standing fast with almost military stoicism. The quarry, by contrast, appears as their leafy, bucolic place of origin. It’s in this contrast that the book finds an unexpected poignancy.

But although 'Heaven And A Hard Place' flirts with animism (the idea of spirits inhering in objects of nature) and hints at a critique of industrial development, its playful tone makes it cunningly elusive. Ultimately, it may have more to say about our interpretive inclinations than the “true nature of things”. Perhaps, here, the anthropomorphic takes the mick out of the Anthropocene.

Self published
First edition of 300 copies
Hardcover (thread sewn)
40 pages
240 mm x 320 mm