150 METRES OF MEMORY BY MARIANA DUARTE SANTOS ALONG DOCK ROAD
Mariana Duarte Santos: 150 Metres of Memory on Dock Road, Ferrybank
I have never liked walking along this stretch of roadway and I had to make a number of attempts to photograph this mural.
Waterford City and County Council, in partnership with Waterford Walls, commissioned a major public artwork along Dock Road in Ferrybank, translating the layered industrial and social history of the area into a sprawling visual archive.
Stretching 150 metres outward from the vicinity of Plunkett Station, the mural was executed by Portuguese artist Mariana Duarte Santos. Drawing directly from municipal archives, historic maps, census records, contemporary newspaper accounts, and period photography, the installation comprises 29 distinct scenes. Together, they chart the development of the city's north bank as a busy rail terminus, working port, and close-knit residential community embracing both Ferrybank and Sallypark.
Documenting all 29 panels along this arterial corridor presents a distinct practical challenge. Heavy, unrelenting commercial traffic along Dock Road makes working at the base of the wall hazardous. Capturing the full sequence required working from across the dual carriageway, relying on a 70–200mm f/4 telephoto lens to isolate individual panels and compress perspective, while carefully managing shutter speeds and stabilisation to eliminate camera shake.
Originally from Lisbon, Mariana Duarte Santos transitioned to large-scale outdoor murals in 2019, creating over 50 public installations across Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Her figurative, memory-driven approach—frequently drawing upon vintage monochromatic and sepia aesthetics—lends itself naturally to local archival storytelling.
"With the ongoing regeneration of the North Quays, preserving and celebrating the history and essence of Ferrybank is vitally important. This mural is significant not only in scale but is a stunning visual narrative that bridges past and present. Most importantly, it pays tribute to the people who shaped Ferrybank, from railway workers and stevedores to families and generations of residents whose lives and livelihoods defined the character of the area." — As extensive redevelopment reshapes the North Quays, this 150-metre installation provides an enduring link to the stevedores, rail crews, and neighbourhood families whose labour built Ferrybank.
Artist Instagram: @mariana95santos
Technical Note: Camera Suitability (Sony A7RVI / High-Resolution Full Frame)
Working across a busy multi-lane roadway with a 70–200mm f/4 lens brings specific optical and sensor demands:
Pixel Density & Motion Blur: On a very high-resolution sensor (such as the 61MP+ Sony A7R series / A7RVI), micro-vibrations from camera shake or passing heavy goods vehicles are amplified at 100% crop. When shooting handheld across the road at 135–200mm, relying solely on standard Optical SteadyShot (OSS) can be risky. Maintaining a minimum shutter speed of 1/500s or faster (via Auto ISO minimum shutter speed presets) is vital to keep fine archival brushwork tack-sharp.
Cropping & Perspective: The high resolving power of the A7R line is an enormous advantage here. Standing across the street often forces a compromise between framing out traffic and capturing the vertical plane square-on; high-resolution captures allow precise perspective correction and tighter compositional crops without degrading detail for web display or prints.
Depth of Field: At 70–200mm from across the road, stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 ensures edge-to-edge sharpness across the entire mural surface, especially when standing slightly off-axis to avoid roadside obstructions.
Local awareness and engagement have been quite active, driven largely by local media coverage and direct community outreach:
Direct Community Involvement: When work began earlier in the year, Mariana Duarte Santos and project organisers actively appealed to residents of Ferrybank and Sallypark for family photographs, personal anecdotes, and historical documents. Several panels incorporate faces and scenes provided directly by local families connected to the old railway terminus and shipping wharves.
Regional Media Coverage: The project received dedicated coverage across local radio and print, including WLR FM in Waterford and KCLR 96FM across South Kilkenny/Carlow. Because Ferrybank straddles the Waterford/Kilkenny boundary, KCLR in particular highlighted the border-community angle and interviewed the artist on site.
Reactions to the North Quays Context: Community feedback has generally viewed the mural as an important cultural anchor during a period of heavy disruption. With the large-scale North Quays commercial and transport regeneration underway right alongside Dock Road, residents and civic groups have welcomed having the working-class social identity of Ferrybank and Sallypark preserved in high visibility before the new developments open.
Roadside Visibility vs. Pedestrian Access: The main point of local discussion mirrors my photographic experience: because Dock Road is a busy commercial artery, the primary public engagement is visual through car and bus windows rather than casual pedestrian foot traffic, making it a prominent daily landmark for commuters heading into and out of Plunkett Station.
I have never liked walking along this stretch of roadway and I had to make a number of attempts to photograph this mural.
Waterford City and County Council, in partnership with Waterford Walls, commissioned a major public artwork along Dock Road in Ferrybank, translating the layered industrial and social history of the area into a sprawling visual archive.
Stretching 150 metres outward from the vicinity of Plunkett Station, the mural was executed by Portuguese artist Mariana Duarte Santos. Drawing directly from municipal archives, historic maps, census records, contemporary newspaper accounts, and period photography, the installation comprises 29 distinct scenes. Together, they chart the development of the city's north bank as a busy rail terminus, working port, and close-knit residential community embracing both Ferrybank and Sallypark.
Documenting all 29 panels along this arterial corridor presents a distinct practical challenge. Heavy, unrelenting commercial traffic along Dock Road makes working at the base of the wall hazardous. Capturing the full sequence required working from across the dual carriageway, relying on a 70–200mm f/4 telephoto lens to isolate individual panels and compress perspective, while carefully managing shutter speeds and stabilisation to eliminate camera shake.
Originally from Lisbon, Mariana Duarte Santos transitioned to large-scale outdoor murals in 2019, creating over 50 public installations across Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Her figurative, memory-driven approach—frequently drawing upon vintage monochromatic and sepia aesthetics—lends itself naturally to local archival storytelling.
"With the ongoing regeneration of the North Quays, preserving and celebrating the history and essence of Ferrybank is vitally important. This mural is significant not only in scale but is a stunning visual narrative that bridges past and present. Most importantly, it pays tribute to the people who shaped Ferrybank, from railway workers and stevedores to families and generations of residents whose lives and livelihoods defined the character of the area." — As extensive redevelopment reshapes the North Quays, this 150-metre installation provides an enduring link to the stevedores, rail crews, and neighbourhood families whose labour built Ferrybank.
Artist Instagram: @mariana95santos
Technical Note: Camera Suitability (Sony A7RVI / High-Resolution Full Frame)
Working across a busy multi-lane roadway with a 70–200mm f/4 lens brings specific optical and sensor demands:
Pixel Density & Motion Blur: On a very high-resolution sensor (such as the 61MP+ Sony A7R series / A7RVI), micro-vibrations from camera shake or passing heavy goods vehicles are amplified at 100% crop. When shooting handheld across the road at 135–200mm, relying solely on standard Optical SteadyShot (OSS) can be risky. Maintaining a minimum shutter speed of 1/500s or faster (via Auto ISO minimum shutter speed presets) is vital to keep fine archival brushwork tack-sharp.
Cropping & Perspective: The high resolving power of the A7R line is an enormous advantage here. Standing across the street often forces a compromise between framing out traffic and capturing the vertical plane square-on; high-resolution captures allow precise perspective correction and tighter compositional crops without degrading detail for web display or prints.
Depth of Field: At 70–200mm from across the road, stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 ensures edge-to-edge sharpness across the entire mural surface, especially when standing slightly off-axis to avoid roadside obstructions.
Local awareness and engagement have been quite active, driven largely by local media coverage and direct community outreach:
Direct Community Involvement: When work began earlier in the year, Mariana Duarte Santos and project organisers actively appealed to residents of Ferrybank and Sallypark for family photographs, personal anecdotes, and historical documents. Several panels incorporate faces and scenes provided directly by local families connected to the old railway terminus and shipping wharves.
Regional Media Coverage: The project received dedicated coverage across local radio and print, including WLR FM in Waterford and KCLR 96FM across South Kilkenny/Carlow. Because Ferrybank straddles the Waterford/Kilkenny boundary, KCLR in particular highlighted the border-community angle and interviewed the artist on site.
Reactions to the North Quays Context: Community feedback has generally viewed the mural as an important cultural anchor during a period of heavy disruption. With the large-scale North Quays commercial and transport regeneration underway right alongside Dock Road, residents and civic groups have welcomed having the working-class social identity of Ferrybank and Sallypark preserved in high visibility before the new developments open.
Roadside Visibility vs. Pedestrian Access: The main point of local discussion mirrors my photographic experience: because Dock Road is a busy commercial artery, the primary public engagement is visual through car and bus windows rather than casual pedestrian foot traffic, making it a prominent daily landmark for commuters heading into and out of Plunkett Station.
29 PANEL MURAL ON DOCK ROAD