‘Backgarden Trilogy’, (Trilogia grădinii din spate / Tríológ Garraícúil / Hintergarten-Trilogie), was born from the artist and curator’s shared experience as Romanian residents living in Dublin, featuring photography, drawings and a science-fiction story written by the artist.

Unfamiliar with the purposes of ‘H’ shaped white metal posts scattered through public parks, these structures were, for Gheorghe, reminiscent of extra-terrestrial symbols found in the landscapes of sci-fi novels. The parks, gardens and green areas referenced through this work are both natural and artificial, rendering these environments even more unnatural; while retaining their familiarity; it transforms them into terrestrial back gardens with a view to a ‘great outdoors’.

All texts are quadrilingual (Romanian, Irish, German and English), adding to the theme of defamiliarisation through translation. The typeface, True, by Bold Decisions, is a family of two styles that is made up of a sans and serif. Switching between the two creates a distinct hierarchy of content and helps to create an exaggerated sense of unease.

The use of translucent papers creates interactions between the text, photography and Gheorghe’s tape works, layering them on top of each to draw comparisons between the abstract forms.

Each cover of the book is numbered and uniquely hand-finished by the artist through hand placed tape over the spine. Varying tape colours and textures are a common them in Gheorghe’s work, and their application here brings in a performative action to the design.