Skip to main content

Photographer Brings Emigrants Into Focus...

WHEN he first began his photographic project documenting the departure of young emigrants in early 2010, David Monahan had no way of knowing a mass exodus was about to take place.

But with more than 65,000 emigrating from here last year alone, Mr Monahan’s project, Leaving Dublin, is tapping into the mood of a generation.

The Dublin photographer first got the idea when talking to a young couple in their 20s — he was an electrician, she a beautician, and both have been out of work for a long time — who were leaving for Australia. From that one conversation, David decided to begin a series of shots which document emigration in modern Ireland.

He advertised to photograph people of all nationalities, who had made the decision to move from Ireland for economic reasons.

The pictures, which can be seen on davidmonahan.viewbook.com, are not just random images, but highly stylised and conceptualised shots which will form a series which Monahan hopes to display in a public arena which the project is completed.

Shot at night in and around Dublin city, Mr Monahan juxtaposes his subjects with landscapes that are significant to their pasts.

But what is it about the poignant almost moody images that draws people to become subjects in his project?

"It marks their passing from one life to another, it is something to mark a decision that will have far reaching effect into their future," he said. "I think people buy into the idea that it shows the sadness but also the strength and tenacity of what these people are doing.

"It clearly resonates with people across generations too.

"I had a call from a woman from New York state who had emigrated 50 years ago and she completely got what I am trying to do."The photographer uses the device of the battered old suitcase from the 1960s which brings an historical element into the picture. That signifies this is not the first time an Irish generation has had to leave. My own parents did. The suitcase is about a visual metaphor as well as a simple prop to help composition."

So far Mr Monahan has photographed 25 people, but with interest growing and media coverage — including a slot on CBS — helping things along, he has "quite a few" to do over the next week.

When he has enough material, Mr Monahan plans to enlarge the prints and display them in one the cities to which our young people are moving.


Report by Jennifer Hough - Irish Examiner

Popular posts from this blog

More Allsop Fire Sales...

Allsop plans five fire sales a year... THE UK auction house Allsop and its Irish affiliate Space plans to hold up to five distressed property auctions a year following the success of its first auction last Friday when 81 out of 82 lots were sold for a total of €15 million. The next auction is scheduled for July 7th, when 200 lots will be auctioned, including apartments, tenanted shops, farms and houses. According to Space director Stephen McCarthy, his company is being inundated with requests from receivers, banks and individuals who want to sell their property fast. Many of the properties in Friday’s auction were sold by Bank of Scotland Ireland and it’s believe there is plenty more of this stock to sell. These include apartments in the Castleforbes development in the Dublin docklands, as well as units in Dublin 8 and in Castleknock. However, the agency is also considering taking on more agricultural land. One lot, a 55 acre farm in Co Wickow sold particularly well, making €42...

As Featured On Dublin Postcards, Ad's, U2 Video...

I see in the Irish Independent today an item concerning a favourite, Dublin landmark, of mine... "THEY have featured in numerous postcards and a very famous Guinness ad, but perhaps their most important cameo appearance came when they featured in U2s 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' video. However, Dublin City Council does not believe the Poolbeg chimneys are iconic enough to place on their Record of Protected Structures. Following a request from Cllr Dermot Lacey (Lab) to have the landmark ESB chimneys placed on the protected record, city councillors heard that city planners had conducted a survey, history and full assessment of the chimneys. They concluded from this that while the Poolbeg chimneys were considered to be of a certain level of architectural, social and historical significance, they were not of sufficient value within the meaning of the Planning and Development Act, 2000. Complex The twin red and white chimney stacks measure 680 feet in height and were construc...

Property Ireland - Irish Land Values Go Up Like A Rocket & Fall Like A Stone...

Land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone... SITE EVALUATION: Why would a developer bid €225,000 an acre in 1999 and €2.8m an acre in 2007? Bill Nowlan explains WHY HAS THE value of development land fallen so precipitously, by over 50 per cent in the past 12 months, when residential and other property values have only fallen by 25 per cent or 30 per cent? There is an old property cliché which says that "land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone" and this seems to have been bourne out in Ireland over recent years. Why does this happen? To answer this question requires an insight into the way developers prepare their bids for development land and I set out below a glimpse into that process. Let me start by looking at how a developer in normal times estimates his bid for a plot of land with planning permission, which in estate agents' parlance is ready-to-go. The key starting point in a developers equations is the expected sale price of the finished b...