URBAN EXPRESSION BY THE URBAN CARTOGRAPHER

There Is Much To See Here

Murals

EXAMPLES OF STREET ART 10 FEBRUARY 2024

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PHOTOGRAPHED USING A SIGMA DP1 QUATTRO

The Year of the Dragon has arrived and I decided to celebrate by having lunch at Eatokyo on Capel Street. I live on Bolton Street which is at the end of Capel street and I had expected that there would be some Lunar New Year events on Capel Street so I brought a camera. Unfortunately my decision to use my Sigma DP1 Quattro proved to be a mistake. The Sigma DP1 Quattro is at best it is difficult to use. The low light performance is very poor and it is close to impossible to use any setting other than ISO100. In low light camera shake ruins many of the images and any movement within the frame makes the captured image unusable.

Anyway, I discovered that the planned events are scheduled for Sunday 11 February so I decided to visit the Kevin Street area and Portobello which gave me the opportunity to photograph examples of street art but unfortunately the captured images proved to be disappointing.

GULLIVER MURAL BY MEAGHAN QUINN AT THE OLD MART ON SUMMERHILL ROAD IN TRIM

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I USED AN OLD CANON 5DIII CAMERA

In July 2011 Trim Tidy Town’s all-out effort to win big in the National Tidy Towns Competition included a number of striking murals springing up around the town. One of the most colourful was a depiction of Gulliver at the old mart, which has become quite a tourist attraction. Until a few days ago I was unaware of the 30ft long mural. The painting of Gulliver and other murals at Spicer’s wall on Watergate Street and underneath the bridge at the Maudlins roundabout are the work of professional artist Meaghan Quinn.

The mart was the venue for the weekly livestock sales for 53 years until 2004 is destined to be used for a housing development. TE Potterton has been trading as an auctioneers since 1886, operating weekly livestock sales at Castle Street in Trim from 1957 until it relocated to an open site less than a mile away on Summerhill Road in 1962. The Trim Mart was for many years one of the largest on the north east.

Following its opening in May 2023 by Minister Heather Humphreys, Solstice Arts Centre undertook the management duties of the new Swift Cultural Centre in Trim on behalf of Meath County Council. The name reflects both the importance of the acclaimed author of “Gulliver Travels” and Trim resident, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), as well as the significance of the swift to Trim’s wildlife and urban ecosystem. The Swift Cultural Centre will collaborate and share meeting rooms and cultural spaces with Trim Library to provide a diverse and enriching community learning, engagement and performance programme for the public. Community use by local artists, societies and community groups remain the primary and core value of the space.
The €9m development of the theatre and library included the refurbishment of the former St. Patrick’s Chapel for use as part of the centre. With a seating capacity of up to 235 people, Swift Cultural Centre provides a much-welcomed space for local drama, music and theatre groups.

Gulliver’s Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the “travellers’ tales” literary subgenre. It is Swift’s best-known full-length work and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver’s Travels “to vex the world rather than divert it”.

The book was an immediate success. The English dramatist John Gay remarked, “It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery.” In 2015, Robert McCrum released his selection list of the 100 best novels of all time, where he called Gulliver’s Travels “a satirical masterpiece”.

PHONE ZOMBIES IS A STREET ART MURAL WITH A MESSAGE LOCATED ON CAMDEN ROW

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NEAR ST KEVIN’S CEMETERY

This mural was produced by Kevin McSherry and Katherina Rupit.

Phones, tablets, even watch screens are everywhere you turn. According to Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of seven hours and 22 minutes on screens every day! And that doesn’t include computer time for schoolwork.

Some studies show that too much screen time can affect your body. Adolescence is a critical time for brain development so teens may be especially at risk. While watching videos or texting with friends is fun, it’s crucial to limit screen time.

It is interesting to note that the mural is close to the entrance to St Kevin’s Cemetery. At the start of the 19th century this cemetery, like many others in Dublin, became a target of the body-snatchers, although it was surrounded by high walls (changed to railings in the 1960s). In February 1830 a Frenchman named Nagles and his friend were attacked by a group of “sack-em-ups” lying in wait near the cemetery. The criminals’ attention was diverted by the arrival of a cart-load of dead bodies, giving Nagles the opportunity to escape and notify the police at Arran Quay, who apprehended the culprits. On one occasion a body-snatcher was chased as far as Thomas Street, where he finally dropped his booty—the body of a young girl.

SALE AGREED FOR 30 MANOR STREET – WAS ONCE A SHOP BUT IT BECAME A MAJOR EYESORE BECAUSE OF NEGLECT

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PHOTOGRAPHED DECEMBER 2023

This was in reasonable condition when it went on the market but over the years it shows signs of neglect and for some reason it became attractive to pigeons.

The building is on Manor Street with rear access from Shea’s Lane the accommodation is currently described as residential over retail requiring extensive works to restore to a habitable condition.

Here is an optimistic description that I encountered: “30 Manor Street is a commercial property located on the main street in the heart of Stoneybatter, Dublin 7. It is currently for sale and is in need of full refurbishment. The property has a fantastic frontage onto Manor Street and also has rear access from Shea’s Lane. It has a large rear garden measuring 45 meters long with the potential for further development. The property is zoned for mixed use, so it could be used as a residential unit, retail space, or office. It is a great opportunity for someone to create something special in one of Dublin city’s most sought after addresses.”

More about the pigeon issue: www.dublininquirer.com/2017/11/15/in-stoneybatter-ambival…

THE KINGFISHER AT ST PAUL’S AVENUE IN CORK

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MURAL BY LONDON ARTIST CURTIS HYLTON

This mural, created by Curtis Hylton, on Lapp’s Quay near the Paul Street Carpark features The image of a kingfisher with a piece of plastic in its beak. It is the result of a collaboration between the Walls Project, the creative agency behind the annual Waterford Walls International Street Art Festival, and Blackrock Castle.

THIS NEW MURAL IS BY VERA BUGATTI

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DROGHEDA URBAN ART TRAIL

OCTOBER 2023 VISIT TO DROGHEDA

The Bridge of Peace is the second-furthest-west bridge in Drogheda. It was built as a part of an inner by-pass of the town in the 1970s.

Up until 2012 I visited Drogheda at least once per year in order to photograph the latest examples of street art under the Bridge Of Peacee. In 2011 I published the following comment: “According to the locals Drogheda hosts the worlds longest running annual graffiti art event on the undercrofts of the bridge of peace every August. This event has seen some of the worlds top artists visit the site since the walls were first painted in 1993.”

In 2012 I visited only to be disappointed as I could not find anything different or new and for various reasons I was unable to visit Drogheda again until this month [October 2023] and I was really disappointed to discover that there was nothing of interest at the Bridge Of Peace. However as I walked around the town I began to notice superior murals equal to the best on display in Waterford. [Note: I could not find suitable hotel accommodation at the right price so I had to cancel my trip to Waterford this year]

DRAWDA is a collaborative Project between Love Drogheda BIDS, Droichead Arts Centre, and Louth County Council with curator Dee Walsh and mythologist Anthony Murphy.

Until a few weeks ago there were six murals but there is now a new one by Vera Bugatti on Dominick Street – I really like it, and I hope that you like it. The mural portrays the Cailleach, the divine sorceress and mother goddess associated with the creation of the landscape and ancient monuments.

Vera Bugatti was born in Brescia (Italy) in 1979, she graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Parma and she was a research fellow in Mantua with a thesis dedicated to the 16th century heterodox treatises. He published essays on historical and iconological research and has collaborated with editorial offices.

Her artistic work is featured in the books: Julie Kirk Purcell’s Sidewalk Canvas, London 2011; Russ Thorne’s Street Art, London 2014; The Art of Chalk by Tracy Lee Stum, USA 2016; Street Art en Europe by Nath Oxygène and Brigitte Silhol, Paris 2018; Designing graphic illusions, China 2019. Her piece Die Erzahler was chosen by the London Flame Tree for the Street Art Calendar 2016.

Active since 2008 and expert in Anamorphic Street Painting since 2015, she painted in Italy, Holland, France, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Austria, Malta, Sweden, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Spain, Latvia, Russia, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Belgium, the United States, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and India.

She considers Urban Art as a variation of his artistic poetics, with constant references to the livability of the planet, man’s disturbances and social issues. She also works with different techniques and materials. First of all, the relief figures created by weaving wire with the help of nails, pliers and hammer (Iron and nails project). Then the wooden optical boxes, with locks that allow you to observe what is inside, which contain slightly deformed paintings or mirrors. Peeking you can see modern Mondi Novi, sometimes disturbing worlds. Finally the cylindrical anamorphoses with electric motor of the Memory theater series, restless elegies of time and at the same time homage to the world of the precinema.

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