Street Art

If there is one thing that I have learnt staying in Dublin is that when you walk around the streets you always have to open your eyes and look around. Because everywhere you go, you could find an open-air exhibition. Hidden in plain sight you can see walls covered with graffiti, and if for many people it is something that makes the city “dirty”, for me it is art .

So I decided to take one day to go around the city, in the less known places, but also the most crowded and catch each piece of art of this city. First of all, I got some information about what the people from Dublin think about this kind of art, and the thing that for sure will surprise you is that the street art of Dublin is composed by an artistic movement full blown, supported by a global art community. This movement is trying to give more visive and artistic impact to the public spaces of the city, respecting it.

As everybody knows the Street Art has not always been well regarded, mostly because when it was born it was a medium of revolt and expression of freedom. This is the reason why it was mostly used as a protest medium, so people tended to “smudge” the city. Nowadays, instead, it is thought to be a form of art, even if not for all because many people still think that is a form of vandalism. Fortunately in many cities, being seen as art, it is promoted and there are so many spaces created to enjoy this activity.

So when in Dublin, as I was saying, you always need to walk with your eyes completely open and a camera in your hands to capture the beauties of this art. Everywhere you go you can find this explosion of colours, shapes, writings and drawings, which give a special touch to the city. You can find them really everywhere, in the narrower and unknown alley, but also in the most crowded areas. Going all around the city I went off into places unknown to me that turned out to be a very beautiful treasure.

For example, next to Temple bar, I found this little alley called Lane Love, really full of colours: on the wall, there are some tiles where everyone can write down something for someone they love.

Another graffiti that I really liked is the one in Grantham St. “U ARE ALIVE” which I think is a strong message to the life and power of the individual. Walking in the streets of this city through these artworks, the feeling is almost to feel inside and part of this movement.

In short, as you can see this is a very diffused movement and it makes this city even more interesting! But, I won’t reveal all the artistic secrets of the city… now it is you turn, so let’s go off on this adventure and discover all the different shades of Dublin!