Nuala Mahon’s interest in photography started as a twelve year old. She holds a BSc and an MSc in Chemistry. She worked in several European and African countries. She holds a diploma in German as a foreign language and is fluent in French. She also holds a TEFL teaching diploma.
Her maternal ancestors were fishermen and net mending women. She lives on an island off the south west coast of Ireland.
In recent years islanders have become acutely aware of the detrimental effect of the global increase in ocean plastic pollution. Most of the detritus comes from detached fishing gear which is described as “Ghost Gear”. Oil containers and children’s toys make up a great proportion of the rest of the polluting items.
Rather than creating beautifully fashioned images of ocean plastic debris she decided to create something subtler and yet realistic. She fabricated pinhole cameras to record the work and used her scientific training to make the developer from seaweed.