EXHIBITION PROPOSAL
The Likeness of Us is the joint vision of Clare artists Elaine Tucker and Óscar Mascareñas. The collection features images in colour and monochrome of wildlife from Ireland and Mexico, where the artists explore their self-nature in inter-relationship with the world. Through a form of inquiry that is based on simplicity, directness, and profundity, it aims to capture the spontaneous, ephemeral essence of the natural world as it unfolds, while revealing the beautiful, inevitable, and unfathomable bond that exists between all sentient beings, echoing the sentiments of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and symbolist painter Eugène Carrière.
Elaine and Óscar practise photography together, and yet each of them observes and creates out of their own awareness of being. This allows them to produce images that mirror their simultaneous experience of nature with contrasting yet concerted character and quality.
While photography is often seen as a medium that fixes a moment of life in time, it is impermanence that makes life possible. In harmony with life’s impermanent nature, Elaine and Óscar propose that, with regard to the relationship between their work and the observers, the latter do not merely experience a static image 'made' by someone else, but rather inhabit an ever-changing creation of their own: a dynamic reflection of the in-sight of Self through the vibrations of the inner eye. Like the still lake that perfectly reflects trees, birds, clouds and rocks as they are in the present moment, the images in The Likeness of Us are true, embodied impressions of the spiritual rhythms that shape the artists’ relationship with nature.
In a world where quiet and stillness have become a much-needed antidote against the noises and overt excesses of contemporary society, The Likeness of Us offers an intimate space for introspection, reconnection and insightful observation.
The images below are Elaine & Óscar's own embodiment of this space.
Artists Biographies
Elaine Tucker is an Irish photographer specialising in wildlife and landscape photography. Besides capturing the natural world in Ireland, she travels regularly to Mexico, giving her the opportunity to create images of great contrast and beauty.
Elaine is interested in imprinting the essence of the moment of capture in all her pictures. She uses a unique approach to portraying the natural character of wildlife animals and their relationship with the environment, creating a deep, moving and meaningful way of engaging with the planet.
Elaine’s work is featured in the book, The Artist and Academia (Routledge 2021). Her picture of a group of deer in the Killarney National Park was shortlisted amongst the first 100 out of 3000 pictures in RTE's Eye on Nature Photography Competition in 2022. Elaine also came second in the TUS Green Week Nature Photography Competition in March 2025.
Elaine’s work has been exhibited at the Hunt Museum in Limerick City (March 17th – 28th April 2024); The People’s Museum of Limerick (September 19th – October 18th, 2024); and also in The Bridge, Creative Arts Centre, Ballina/Killaloe (26th October – 9th November 2024).
Elaine was Curator's Choice at the Hunt Museum for the month of May 2025. The exhibited work is 'Presence', part of the TRANSPOSITIONS series.
Elaine has a Diploma of Professional Photography, a Certificate of Wildlife Photography, a Certificate of Landscapes and Travel Photography from the Photography Institute, as well as an MA in Sociology and BA in European Studies from the University of Limerick.
Web: www.elainetuckerphotography.com
Flicker: elainetuckerphotos
Óscar Mascareñas is a transcendental poet working in the fields of sound, light, movement and letters, based in Clare, Ireland. He is interested in observation and attention, the poetics of everything, the power, clarity and completeness of knowing by oneself, the future of artistic inquiry and education, and the materiality of poetry which lies at the centre of observation.
PhD in Music and MA in Chant and Ritual Song (University of Limerick, Ireland); BSc in Industrial Physics and Engineering (ITESM, Mexico), Óscar has published work in Europe, Africa and the Americas for the past 27 years, and collaborated with several artists and art companies from the fields of dance, music, theatre, visual arts and film. These include dance artist Mary Nunan, singer/songwriter Iarla Ó Lionáird, composers Mel Mercier and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, voice artist Steve Boyland, improvisers Danny McCarthy & Mick O'Shea from The Quiet Club, performance artist Nigel Rolfe, actor Conor Lovett and director Judy Hegarty-Lovett from Gare St Lazare theatre company, and Tipperary Dance Company, amongst many others.
In 2023 Óscar was commissioned by Diatribe Records in Dublin to create images for Ann Cleare’s 2024 album An Cúigiú Cúige. The photographs were taken at the Hill of Uisneach in Co. Westmeath. The images feature in the Zeigeist Irland 24 catalogue, which collects pictures and testimonies from the year-long programme of over 400 events that took place in over 100 towns and cities across Germany.
Two pictures from the series ‘Riding on the wind’, which appear in his book Like drinking water, featured in the Curator’s Choice at the Hunt Museum in Limerick City in February 2024. One of Óscar’s images in the new series The Likeness of Us will be exhibited in the Hunt Museum’s inaugural Open Submission Exhibition between December 2025 and February 2026 in Limerick.
Óscar has written two books, Meditations on the Poetics of Experience (2020), and Like drinking water (2024), published by ERÓS. In the field of sound Óscar has created two albums, Songs for Jackson Pollock, produced by ERÓS in 2018/2019; and Burrenscapes, produced by Diatribe Records in 2022. His sonic work is prolific and covers a breadth of instrumental ensembles, compositional approaches and performances. His current focus is on improvisation as a tool for insightful observation through sound and silence. This is applied in AIRE, the practice he leads with composer and ambient guitarist Tony Monahan, which has received support from the Arts Council of Ireland and has been presented at the Irish World Academy in the University of Limerick, the Hunt Museum in Limerick City and in the Burren in Co. Clare.
As a scholar, Óscar has written numerous articles on Gregorian chant, poetry, pedagogy and philosophy. His inquiry covers a wide range of subjects and disciplines: from poetry, composition and performance in contemporary practice, to monochromatic photography, Gregorian chant, Zen, Eastern and Western philosophy and radical pedagogy.
Óscar is Associate Professor of Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in the University of Limerick, where he lectures and researches in creative process and trans-disciplinary practice. He also works independently as an artist, pedagogue and performer internationally.
Web: www.ioscar.ie
IG: @ioscar.ie
Joint exhibitions by Elaine and Óscar
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Local Art Craft Limerick (20th and 21st of December 2025)
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Local Art Craft Limerick (29th and 30th of November 2025)
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Local Art Craft Limerick (11th and 12th of October 2025)
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TRANSPOSITIONS – The Bridge Creative Arts Centre, Ballina/Killaloe (26th October – 9th November 2024)
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TRANSPOSITIONS – The People’s Museum of Limerick (September 19th – October 18th, 2024)
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Photographic Exhibition at Hunt Museum in Limerick City (March 17th – 28th April 2024)
Technical aspects for production
For this exhibition, each artist have produced eight pictures (total of 16). The photographs are from various places in Ireland and Mexico, and feature images of wildlife from the Ria de Celestún’s National Biosphere Reserve in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and the rich natural landscapes of Ireland.
In order to render every detail with the highest clarity and precision, all images are archival pigment prints made by the artists using a 12-ink printer, offering superb quality of reproduction. Elaine’s images in colour are printed on PermaJet FB Royal Gloss 310 gsm. Óscar’s monochromatic images are printed on Awagami Murakumo Kozo 42 gsm (Natural), Awagami Unryu Premio 165 gsm, and Awagami Shiramine card 260 gsm. The pictures vary in sizes from 4x4 cm to 24x5 cm in different aspect ratios. The framed sizes are all 50x50 cm using museum quality anti-reflective, UV-protected glass.