“I work from old photographs because a lot of the Dublin I grew up in has disappeared over the last few years.”
I work from old photographs because a lot of the Dublin I grew up in has disappeared over the last few years. Development has changed the face of the city. There are little corners that haven’t changed, but overall it’s an ever-changing landscape.
This picture of Buckingham Street is outside the old stewhouse. All the prams are parked outside and the mammies and children are inside having their food. There was also a pub on the corner which the men were in.
This painting [which is on the cover of Dublin Inquirer #89] was part of the “Art from the Heart” exhibition at the Dublin Adult Learning Centre on Mountjoy Square. We thought of it because all of our paintings came from the heart and also from the heart of the north inner-city.
The plaza needs help, says Sean Mullan, owner of the Third Space cafe. “Someone with the imagination that we could make this a vibrant space that belongs to the city.”
“It’s coming during this wave when people are bringing trad music into modern spaces. But it came out of pure experimentation,” says musician Ian Nyquist.
And Danny Groenland puts “his activist spirit front and centre”.
"I have — to quote the U.S. poet Keith S. Wilson — become a repentant defender of pigeons."
