THERE WAS A REASON WHY A STAYED AT THE MOXY HOTEL IN CORK
THERE WAS A REASON WHY A STAYED AT THE MOXY HOTEL IN CORK [SEPTEMBER 2025]
The Ghost of Pine Street: A Fading Message and the Search for Nan
This year, I spent a week at the Moxy Hotel on Camden Quay in Cork. I chose it partly because it replaced a derelict building while thoughtfully restoring some historical elements of the site. While working through my back catalogue of images from a previous visit to the area in 2016, I found a photograph of a wall on Pine Street that no longer exists. What caught my eye was a simple, hand-painted piece of graffiti from two years prior that read: "This Is Nan She Has E.D.S A Rare Disease" 2014.
The use of "Nan" immediately stood out. Was it a given name, or was this, as is so common in Ireland and the UK, a plea for a beloved grandmother? This photograph, an act of documenting a changing urban landscape, serves as a unique piece of archival evidence. It sparked a series of questions: Was this a genuine appeal for help? Was there a fundraising campaign for someone's Nan, suffering from a rare disease that required treatment in the United States? And what was life in Cork like at that moment, that such a desperate, public plea would be written on the wall of a derelict building?
This is the story of that investigation. It’s a search not just for an individual, but for the social, cultural, and medical realities of the time that made this message both possible and necessary. While the identity of Nan remains a mystery, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests the graffiti was an authentic and poignant reflection of a documented crisis.
A Canvas on a Forgotten Wall
To understand the message, you first have to understand the wall. In 2014, the derelict building on Pine Street was far from forgotten; it was a recognised and dynamic hub for street art, a living gallery in the heart of Cork. Placing a fundraising appeal here was a deliberate and strategic act of communication, targeting a specific audience in a space laden with cultural meaning.
The wall was part of a complex next to the historic Camden Palace, a building that once housed the Camden Palace Community Arts Centre. This legacy primed the area for creative expression. Even in a state of disuse, its walls were seen not as derelict but as available canvases.
This status was cemented in the summer of 2014, when the area became a focal point for the LiveStyles Hip Hop Festival. The festival, covered by local media, effectively sanctioned the wall as a public canvas, transforming it from a target for illicit graffiti into a celebrated, high-visibility location. Placing a message here was like pinning a notice on a popular community bulletin board. The author was leveraging a specific cultural space to reach an audience they believed would be receptive: the arts- and community-minded people of Cork. The wall was not just a surface; it was a stage.
A Hidden Crisis: The Fight for Recognition
If Pine Street provides the "where," the socio-medical landscape of Ireland in 2014 provides the critical "why." The graffiti’s subject—Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)—was at the centre of a burgeoning public health controversy. That year, media reports exposed a systemic failure within the Irish health service to support patients with the rare genetic disorder. The plea for Nan was not an isolated case but a reflection of a widespread struggle forcing families to take matters into their own hands.
On 30 March 2014, the news outlet TheJournal.ie published a landmark article titled, “‘People are being left to rot’: Rare disease sufferers feel let down by health service”. It gave a platform to women with EDS who described years of debilitating symptoms being dismissed by medical professionals.
Most relevant to the graffiti, the article directly addressed fundraising. One young woman stated that families were being "encouraged to fundraise for their treatment" abroad, a situation she called "ridiculous." This public conversation validated the act of fundraising not as a choice, but as a last resort imposed by the state's inaction. The graffiti, dated "2014," was likely created in the weeks or months after the article’s publication, when the issue was fresh in the public consciousness. It was a direct, localised echo of a national outcry.
Searching for Nan
With the context established, the investigation turned to the central question: could the specific fundraising campaign be identified? A comprehensive search across digital archives, fundraising sites like GoFundMe, and newspaper records yielded no direct evidence of a campaign for a "Nan" in Cork with EDS.
However, this absence of a digital footprint is a key finding in itself. In 2014, online crowdfunding had not yet become the ubiquitous tool it is today. Grassroots fundraising relied on more physical and local methods:
Collection jars in local pubs, shops, and post offices.
Community events like bake sales, table quizzes, and sponsored walks.
Flyers and posters in community centres and shop windows.
Word-of-mouth appeals within neighbourhoods and workplaces.
These methods leave almost no digital trace a decade later. The graffiti on Pine Street was likely one of the main, if not the only, pieces of public-facing media for the appeal. My 2016 photograph may be one of its only surviving records—a digital ghost of an analogue plea.
From Urban Art to Moxy Hotel
The final chapter is one of transformation. In the years following, the site at Camden Quay was targeted for a major redevelopment. A €40–€50 million project was undertaken to construct a new seven-storey, 206-room hotel. This necessitated the demolition of the derelict structures that had served as the city's informal art gallery.
The architectural plans were notable for their approach to history. The project involved the "careful preservation and full restoration" of the historic Camden Palace building, which was seamlessly integrated into the new hotel. This creates a stark juxtaposition. The official, protected heritage of Camden Palace was meticulously saved. The unofficial, living heritage on the adjacent Pine Street walls—holding the raw, human plea for a family's Nan—was completely erased.
This highlights how cities evolve. Formal history is preserved, while informal history, written on walls by the community, is often seen as disposable. The Moxy Hotel development represents progress, but in filling that space, the message was silenced. The story of Nan's struggle was literally paved over.
A Story Written on a Wall
The investigation began with a simple question about a message on a wall. While the identity of Nan—whether a name or a cherished grandmother—was never uncovered, the search confirmed the absolute authenticity of the plea. The graffiti was a product of its time and place—an artefact born from a perfect storm of cultural, medical, and social forces.
The photograph from 2016 is more than just an image in my catalogue; it's a valuable historical document. It preserves a fragile record of a desperate fight for health and recognition being waged by countless people across Ireland at that exact moment. The wall is gone, but the ghost on Pine Street tells a story that was undeniably real: a story of a community's struggle, a family's desperation, and a public appeal for the compassion the system had failed to provide.
The Ghost of Pine Street: A Fading Message and the Search for Nan
This year, I spent a week at the Moxy Hotel on Camden Quay in Cork. I chose it partly because it replaced a derelict building while thoughtfully restoring some historical elements of the site. While working through my back catalogue of images from a previous visit to the area in 2016, I found a photograph of a wall on Pine Street that no longer exists. What caught my eye was a simple, hand-painted piece of graffiti from two years prior that read: "This Is Nan She Has E.D.S A Rare Disease" 2014.
The use of "Nan" immediately stood out. Was it a given name, or was this, as is so common in Ireland and the UK, a plea for a beloved grandmother? This photograph, an act of documenting a changing urban landscape, serves as a unique piece of archival evidence. It sparked a series of questions: Was this a genuine appeal for help? Was there a fundraising campaign for someone's Nan, suffering from a rare disease that required treatment in the United States? And what was life in Cork like at that moment, that such a desperate, public plea would be written on the wall of a derelict building?
This is the story of that investigation. It’s a search not just for an individual, but for the social, cultural, and medical realities of the time that made this message both possible and necessary. While the identity of Nan remains a mystery, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests the graffiti was an authentic and poignant reflection of a documented crisis.
A Canvas on a Forgotten Wall
To understand the message, you first have to understand the wall. In 2014, the derelict building on Pine Street was far from forgotten; it was a recognised and dynamic hub for street art, a living gallery in the heart of Cork. Placing a fundraising appeal here was a deliberate and strategic act of communication, targeting a specific audience in a space laden with cultural meaning.
The wall was part of a complex next to the historic Camden Palace, a building that once housed the Camden Palace Community Arts Centre. This legacy primed the area for creative expression. Even in a state of disuse, its walls were seen not as derelict but as available canvases.
This status was cemented in the summer of 2014, when the area became a focal point for the LiveStyles Hip Hop Festival. The festival, covered by local media, effectively sanctioned the wall as a public canvas, transforming it from a target for illicit graffiti into a celebrated, high-visibility location. Placing a message here was like pinning a notice on a popular community bulletin board. The author was leveraging a specific cultural space to reach an audience they believed would be receptive: the arts- and community-minded people of Cork. The wall was not just a surface; it was a stage.
A Hidden Crisis: The Fight for Recognition
If Pine Street provides the "where," the socio-medical landscape of Ireland in 2014 provides the critical "why." The graffiti’s subject—Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)—was at the centre of a burgeoning public health controversy. That year, media reports exposed a systemic failure within the Irish health service to support patients with the rare genetic disorder. The plea for Nan was not an isolated case but a reflection of a widespread struggle forcing families to take matters into their own hands.
On 30 March 2014, the news outlet TheJournal.ie published a landmark article titled, “‘People are being left to rot’: Rare disease sufferers feel let down by health service”. It gave a platform to women with EDS who described years of debilitating symptoms being dismissed by medical professionals.
Most relevant to the graffiti, the article directly addressed fundraising. One young woman stated that families were being "encouraged to fundraise for their treatment" abroad, a situation she called "ridiculous." This public conversation validated the act of fundraising not as a choice, but as a last resort imposed by the state's inaction. The graffiti, dated "2014," was likely created in the weeks or months after the article’s publication, when the issue was fresh in the public consciousness. It was a direct, localised echo of a national outcry.
Searching for Nan
With the context established, the investigation turned to the central question: could the specific fundraising campaign be identified? A comprehensive search across digital archives, fundraising sites like GoFundMe, and newspaper records yielded no direct evidence of a campaign for a "Nan" in Cork with EDS.
However, this absence of a digital footprint is a key finding in itself. In 2014, online crowdfunding had not yet become the ubiquitous tool it is today. Grassroots fundraising relied on more physical and local methods:
Collection jars in local pubs, shops, and post offices.
Community events like bake sales, table quizzes, and sponsored walks.
Flyers and posters in community centres and shop windows.
Word-of-mouth appeals within neighbourhoods and workplaces.
These methods leave almost no digital trace a decade later. The graffiti on Pine Street was likely one of the main, if not the only, pieces of public-facing media for the appeal. My 2016 photograph may be one of its only surviving records—a digital ghost of an analogue plea.
From Urban Art to Moxy Hotel
The final chapter is one of transformation. In the years following, the site at Camden Quay was targeted for a major redevelopment. A €40–€50 million project was undertaken to construct a new seven-storey, 206-room hotel. This necessitated the demolition of the derelict structures that had served as the city's informal art gallery.
The architectural plans were notable for their approach to history. The project involved the "careful preservation and full restoration" of the historic Camden Palace building, which was seamlessly integrated into the new hotel. This creates a stark juxtaposition. The official, protected heritage of Camden Palace was meticulously saved. The unofficial, living heritage on the adjacent Pine Street walls—holding the raw, human plea for a family's Nan—was completely erased.
This highlights how cities evolve. Formal history is preserved, while informal history, written on walls by the community, is often seen as disposable. The Moxy Hotel development represents progress, but in filling that space, the message was silenced. The story of Nan's struggle was literally paved over.
A Story Written on a Wall
The investigation began with a simple question about a message on a wall. While the identity of Nan—whether a name or a cherished grandmother—was never uncovered, the search confirmed the absolute authenticity of the plea. The graffiti was a product of its time and place—an artefact born from a perfect storm of cultural, medical, and social forces.
The photograph from 2016 is more than just an image in my catalogue; it's a valuable historical document. It preserves a fragile record of a desperate fight for health and recognition being waged by countless people across Ireland at that exact moment. The wall is gone, but the ghost on Pine Street tells a story that was undeniably real: a story of a community's struggle, a family's desperation, and a public appeal for the compassion the system had failed to provide.
THE REAL STORY