HEADLESS URBAN EXPRESSION

THIS MURAL IS TO REMAIN ON THE GABLE WALL AT LONGWOOD AVENUE

August 11, 2023 by infomatique

A TRIBUTE TO DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

Today I had an appointment at Harolds’s Cross so I decided to walk there and visit Longwood Avenue, on my way, in order to check if this large mural had survived the legal and official attempts to have it removed.

In June 2022 it was announced that Dublin City Council was to drop its prosecution of art group Subset for three prominent street murals – including this one celebrating the life of David Attenborough.

In November 2019 I upload photographs of this mural and included the following comment: “Dublin City Council has ordered that a mural of David Attenborough on the side of a property in south Dublin should be removed. An entity or group known as Subset had recently created the Street Art tribute to David Attenborough on his 93rd birthday.”

The David Attenborough Mural is a large-scale street mural located on the gable wall of a house on South Circular Road facing onto Longwood Avenue in Dublin 8, Ireland. It was painted in 2019 by the artist collective SUBSET to mark the renowned naturalist and broadcaster’s 93rd birthday. The mural depicts Attenborough in his signature khaki jacket and hat, standing next to a group of animals, including a penguin, a lion, and an elephant. The mural is vibrantly coloured and features a stylised depiction of the natural world.

The mural was controversial from the start, as it was painted without planning permission from Dublin City Council. The council eventually ordered the mural to be removed, but this decision was met with widespread public opposition. A petition to save the mural attracted over 10,000 signatures, and the council eventually dropped its prosecution of the artists.

The David Attenborough Mural is now considered to be a popular tourist attraction in Dublin. It is a reminder of the city’s vibrant street art scene and its appreciation for the natural world.

REMEMBERING THOMAS DUDLEY 1906-1981 WHO WAS KNOWN AS BANG BANG

August 10, 2023 by infomatique

DUBLIN STREET ART ON CAPEL STREET 10 AUGUST 2023

This is located on Capel Street and as this was my first time to see it one can assume that it is recent as is the chair chained to the railings.

Thomas Dudley, better known as “Bang Bang”, was a well-known street character in Dublin in the mid-20th century. He was known for carrying a large church key around with him and pretending to shoot people with it. He would often shout “Bang Bang!” as he did this.

Dudley was born in Dublin in 1906. He was raised in an orphanage and had a difficult childhood. He was also blind in one eye. Despite his challenges, Dudley was a charismatic and outgoing person.

Bang Bang became a popular figure in Dublin in the 1940s and 1950s. He was often seen riding the buses and trams, pointing his church key at people and shouting “Bang Bang!”

HOODED YOUTH MURAL BY JOE CASLIN

July 27, 2023 by infomatique

LOWER MALLOW STREET LIMERICK

Sadly the death of Sinéad O’Connor was announced Yesterday 26 July 2023.

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor;(8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023), known professionally as Sinéad O’Connor, was an Irish singer and musician. Her debut studio album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990), became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Its lead single, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, was named the number-one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.

I thought that I had photographed a mural of Sinead O’Connor in Limerick back in June 2015 but when I checked I discovered that I had a number of images of a mural that I was unable to identify until now [27 July 2023] and I don’t know why I believed that the mural were associated with the singer.

I have now established that the artist was Joe Caslin.

Joe Caslin is an Irish street artist, art teacher and activist. Best known for his beautifully rendered pencil drawings, which manifest as towering pieces of street art. His highly accessible work engages directly with the social issues of modern Ireland, on an unavoidable scale. Caslin confronts the subjects of suicide, drug addiction, economic marginalisation, marriage equality, stigma in mental health, direct provision, institutional power, consent and most recently, the effects of the Covid19 pandemic on young people. The monochrome drawings Caslin creates live with us and against many of us for some time before washing away. They hold a mirror up to the kind of society that we are, whilst asking us individually what kind of society we want to be a part of.

LARGE MURAL

EXAMPLES OF PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART

July 26, 2023 by infomatique

NORTH KING STREET

At this location there is a memorial to the victims of the North King Street Massacre. I did not include the memorial in my photographs as I have already published photographs of the memorial.

Almost 500 people were killed in the Easter Rising. About 54% were civilians, 30% were British military and police, and 16% were Irish rebels. More than 2,600 were wounded. Many of the civilians were killed as a result of the British using artillery and heavy machine guns, or mistaking civilians for rebels. Others were caught in the crossfire in a crowded city. The shelling and the fires it caused left parts of inner city Dublin in ruins.

A major major scene of fighting during the week was in the area of North King Street, north of the Four Courts. The rebels had established strong outposts in the area, occupying numerous small buildings and barricading the streets. From Thursday to Saturday, the British made repeated attempts to take the area, in what was some of the fiercest fighting of the Rising. As the troops moved in, the rebels continually opened fire from windows and behind chimneys and barricades. At one point, a platoon led by Major Sheppard made a bayonet charge on one of the barricades, but was cut down by rebel fire. The British employed machine guns and attempted to avoid direct fire by using makeshift armoured trucks, and by mouse-holing through the inside walls of terraced houses to get near the rebel positions.[95] By the time of the rebel headquarters’ surrender on Saturday, the South Staffordshire Regiment under Colonel Taylor had advanced only 150 yd (140 m) down the street at a cost of 11 dead and 28 wounded. The enraged troops broke into the houses along the street and shot or bayoneted 15 unarmed male civilians whom they accused of being rebel fighters. The youngest was 16 years.

There was no public inquiry into the massacre; the British Army conducted its own internal military inquiry and no action was taken. In fact, the General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Ireland, General Maxwell justified his troops’ actions, stating that such incidents, “are absolutely unavoidable in such a business as this” and “responsibility for their deaths rests with those resisting His Majesty’s troops in the execution of their duty.”

PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART AT WEAVER PARK

July 18, 2023 by infomatique

I SUSPECT THAT THIS IS YET TO BE FINISHED

Unfortunately I know nothing about this other than it is on Cork Street near Weaver Park. I will check it again in a week or two.

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES BY EMILY KOURI

June 29, 2023 by infomatique

OUTSIDE HOLLES STREET NATIONAL MATERNITY HOSPITAL

“The Birds And The Bees” … I did not get the hidden joke until today. My mother was a nurse/midwife at Holles Street The National Maternity Hospital and on the first day of 1950 I was born there. This example of Paint-A-Box street art is directly outside the hospital.

The Birds & the Bees is inspired by Dublin’s urban gardens, Merrion Square and St. Stephen’s Green; space where nature and urban life intertwine in perfect harmony. This illustration highlights how these gardens bring colour to the city-centre and provide a tranquil gathering place for the people of Dublin.

Emily Kouri is a Canadian graphic designer and illustrator, currently living in Dublin. Using digital and traditional mediums, Emily is passionate about producing work that communicates thoughtful messages. Emily’s projects and collaborations are diverse, that range from branding start-up businesses to creating outdoor urban murals.

The hospital was established through charitable donations in 1894 and received a royal charter, in line with other maternity hospitals in Dublin, in 1903. The Linen Guild, a charity to help mothers and babies in need of financial assistance, was established in 1912.

Elizabeth O’Farrell, a member of Cumann na mBan, served as a midwife, training and working in Holles Street in the early years of the 20th century before carrying the white flag delivering the surrender at the Easter Rising in 1916. The hospital became the first such facility to benefit from the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake which funded extensive redevelopment in the 1930s. Antrim House, the former home of the Earls of Antrim on Merrion Square, was demolished to facilitate the construction of the hospital by G&T Crampton, in 1936. A new Charter was received in 1936 altering the governance of the hospital such that it was administered by a board consisting of the Archbishop of Dublin (or a representative) as chair of the board, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, two City Councillors and two nominees of the Minister of Health.

In 1998, Holles Street set up the Domino (Domiciliary Care In and Out of Hospital) and Home birth scheme through its team of community midwives. The National Maternity Hospital Foundation, a charity which raises funds for a number of projects in the hospital with special emphasis on the neonatal intensive care unit, was established in 2012.