Artist creates postcard series to highlight Dublin getting ‘uglier’

Fiona Frawley

“Dublin is becoming very noisy. Visually”.

Living in Dublin at the moment is a multifaceted experience. When the sun glistens off the sea at the Forty Foot and the canal is lined with groups of pals enjoying cans and catch ups it’s easy to romanticise, but alongside the housing crisis and cost of living crisis, visually we’re haunted by derelict buildings, haphazardly placed bollards and cobblestones being replaced with unsightly yellow asphalt.

This has most recently been highlighted by Dublin-based visual artist Jeanette Lowe, who’s exhibiting her ‘Postcards of Dublin’ series at the NCAD CEAD show for a week starting tonight.

Im exhibiting my ‘Postcards of Dublin’ at the @CeadEsuExhibit opening Thurs @NCAD_Dublin started this project with lots of frustration as the city gets uglier with more ‘Visual Noise’ yet we continue to talk about the importance of tourism ##turndownthevolume @artscouncil_ie pic.twitter.com/92KFiun11o

— Jeanette Lowe (@Jeanette_Lowe) June 26, 2023

Jeanette created the series of imagined postcards to highlight the ‘visual noise’ impacting Dublin at the moment, and start a conversation about our city and who we prioritise it for. The artist defines visual noise as the thousands of plastic bollards dotted along pavements around Dublin, the large yellow litter bins that appeared beside existing bins during the pandemic, and anything from road markings to signage to excessive advertising.

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A post shared by Jeanette Lowe (@jeanetteloweartist)

The postcard series highlights the ‘visual noise’ currently impacting Dublin.

Speaking to Lovin about her work, Jeanette said:

When I started to actually look at the visual pollution on our streets I had envisioned producing work where I could remove it to show how the city might look, but I quickly realised that we already get that picture in city plans when an ‘artists impression’ is produced to accompany the plans! Unfortunately the result can be very different.

If you’re interested in Jeanette’s work, you can see it exhibited at the NCAD campus on Thomas Street for the next week. She’s also encouraging anyone who agrees with her regarding the lack of design planning in the aesthetics to send a postcard to the city manager or to their local councillor.

Header image via Instagram/Jeanette Lowe

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