Bounced Cheques

I have cycled to work through Dublin 7’s market district for over 20 years. On bright mornings, I often leave home a bit earlier and bring my camera. I am drawn again and again to the Victorian Wholesale Fruit & Vegetable Market at the heart of the market district. I find its history compelling. For over 125 years, Dubliners traded within this beautiful building, filling its interior with colour, noise and life. After its closure in 2019 for refurbishment, the area has been besieged by new hotels. Hotels are swallowing up streets and buildings in Dublin city and destroying its culture and soul.

Before the market closed its doors I often walked through it with my camera taking photographs and saying hello to the deflated traders. My photographs document the gradual decline and decay of the market and its surroundings. As traders moved out and activity dwindled, the building's beauty, textures and quiet dignity began to reveal themselves. My images tell the story of the market’s final days as a bustling wholesaler, fading slowly into silence.

I have collected discarded market objects, old notebooks, and documents revealing fragments of their working day. These remnants, quiet witnesses to the past, carry stories, routines and voices of the community that thrived here for over a century. Each object, a reminder of this place's history, whispers of lives and labour now gone.

Today, redevelopment of the market is underway, but its new format raises questions. I am concerned that the proposed changes may prioritise commercial interests over local needs, providing limited support to the existing community. This could further erode Dublin’s identity as a community based city and weaken its ties to its culture and history. I am glad to see the building receive the badly needed upgrades and repairs and I do look forward to seeing the final results. This transformation underscores the urgent need to preserve what remains of historically rich buildings throughout the city.

In 2022, I exhibited work-in-progress at The Darkroom in Stonybatter (Now closed, another loss to Dublins arts community). This lead to a solo exhibition in the same location in 2023. With this project, my aim is to tell the story of a vital part of working-class Dublin while questioning whether the current wave of regeneration and gentrification serves the remaining local traders and residents. I will continue to record the areas transformation over the next few years. My goal is to ultimately unify this work in a book if I can get funding.

This body of work was made possible with support from the Arts Council's Agility Award.