In a glass darkly: landscapes, mirrors and Lacanian absences

This paper engages with a key trope of landscapes as representation: their mirroring capacity. Contextualising the concept of ‘landscape’ within art history, the paper invokes several technologies that have been functional in the recognition of landscapes while themselves remaining invisible. One such technology is a 17th century technology known as the ‘Claude Glass’, which is analysed with the help of Lacanian concepts. The aim of the ensuing analysis is to advance the use of landscapes in public discourses, better to understand the work done by landscapes in different contexts. To illuminate this work, the paper deploys material landscapes formed in Ireland around so-called cilliní – unmarked graves of what were undesirable bodies in bygone decades.