29 January 2024
Dublin’s Docklands community to be celebrated in new Docklanders photography exhibition
- The exhibition, entitled Docklanders, will feature images from Jeanette Lowe, an award-winning photographic artist, old photographs from the local community and a selection from the archive of the Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society.
- Docklanders is open to the public and runs from 2nd to 22nd February in 1SJRQ in the Windmill Quarter in Dublin’s South Docks.
- Members of the media are invited to attend the official opening in 1SJRQ on Thursday, 1st February at 6.30pm.
A new exhibition celebrating the lives and history of the surrounding community of Dublin’s Docklands will open to the public on Friday, 2nd February at the Windmill Quarter in Dublin’s South Docks.
Docklanders will feature images by Jeanette Lowe, a photographic artist, old photographs from the local community and some of the 6,000 photographs collected and preserved by the Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society.
The works will provide a remarkable insight into how the Docklands area and its surrounding community has changed significantly over time. The event is open to the public and will provide visitors with an opportunity to examine and reflect on the lives of those who lived and worked in the area as well as those who continue to live there.
While many of the men living in the area worked as dockers, there were other industries located in the Docklands area. Many women worked in factories and mills located on the North and South Docks. Up until the early 1970s they would often be required to stop working once they were married.
Jeanette Lowe is an award-wining contemporary photographic artist and is currently artist in residence at the Windmill Quarter. The position is supported by Hibernia Real Estate Group, the owners of a number of buildings in the area including 1WML and 1SJRQ. As part of her residency, Jeanette has an exhibition space in 1SJRQ.
Jeanette has been photographing and collecting images of communities in Dublin’s inner city for over a decade. Her ongoing project “Village in the City” started in 2009 as a personal project recording the community of Pearse House flats where her grandmother was one of the first residents in the 1930s.
Jeanette has since examined other inner city communities as they have been dispersed when their flats were demolished. Many of the families she has documented and worked with have lived in the inner city for over a century, settling near where they could find work.
Jeanette’s great-uncle worked as a docker and her mother worked in the Lever Brothers soap factory.
Speaking about the exhibition, Jeanette said:
“Docklanders is a celebration of the many people who have lived and worked in and around Dublin’s Docklands over the years. It will bring visitors on a journey, literally and historically, where they will have an opportunity to engage with one of the city’s oldest communities. The images from the Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society are fascinating and when added to the photographs I have collected and taken, they show a community that lived and worked closely together. A community that supported each other through the good and the bad times.
It’s fantastic that the exhibition is taking place in the Windmill Quarter, which itself is part of the Docklands. It’s a wonderful opportunity to be the artist in residence at the Quarter and I would like to thank Hibernia for their support,” she added.
Interview opportunities: Jeanette Lowe and Declan Byrne, of the Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society, are available for interview.
Invitation: Members of the media are invited to attend the official opening of Docklanders at 1SJRQ on Thursday, February 1st at 6.30pm.
Event Details: Docklanders is open to the public and will run from 2nd-22nd February in 1SJRQ in the Windmill Quarter in Dublin 2.
For further information
Jeanette Lowe; 087 2164 366; [email protected]
Declan Byrne, Dublin Dockworkers Preservation Society; 086 813 8618
Richie Oakley, Murray Group; 087 245 1824; [email protected]
Notes to Editors
About Jeanette Lowe
Jeanette Lowe is a contemporary photographic artist who was born and lives in Dublin. She studied photography, digital imaging and art at the National College of Art and Design. Her photographs have been exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London and at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. She has had solo and group exhibitions in Dublin, the US and in Europe and her work is held in public and private collections.
Jeanette’s association with the Pearse House flats goes back to her grandmother Bridget Ashmore, who was one of the first residents in the 1930s. Bridget and her family were re-housed in Pearse House when their small cottage located on the site was knocked down to build the flats. Bridget or ‘Birdy’ as she was known raised a family of thirteen in a two-bedroom flat, one of which was Jeanette’s mother Anne.
About Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society
The Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society was set up by former Docklands workers to preserve the history of the area and the many men who worked there. To date they have collected over 6,000 photographs and 4,000 documents relating to the Docklands in addition to a collection of Docker’s hooks, shovels and buttons.
ENDS
About Hibernia
Hibernia Real Estate Group owns and develops property with a focus on the Dublin city centre office market. It specialises in property clustering and ESG excellence. Hibernia is wholly owned by Brookfield, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $690 billion in assets under management.