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AS A 16-YEAR-OLD walking through Dublin’s inner city in the autumn of 1982, German exchange student David Jazay fell in love.
Not with a Dublin cailín, but with the city itself. Specifically, with the Liffey quays.
He had also recently discovered photography and was struck with an idea that would meld the two. Unbeknownst to him, he would continue to work on that project for decades.
With incredible foresight for a teenager, Jazay knew that the city’s heart would be unrecognisable in a few years.
“It was such a unique era in time,” he told TheJournal.ie from his Berlin home. “Just before the buildings were torn down or completely made over. It was obvious it was going to change soon.”
As he strolled along the quays on a Sunday morning in October, Jazay said he realised “all these marks or undeveloped or derelict places” would not feature in an inner city in Germany.
To him though, it wasn’t bleak. It was beautiful.
“It was like a big adventure playground,” he recalls. “It was exciting. It gave me a sense of white space and colour schemes that were visually very stunning…especially for a continental European.”
More than 30 years later, Jazay is ready to exhibit some of the work that he produced as a result of those teenage musings.
“I became attached to the area and after I studied film in Munich, I returned each year [for a decade] to continue the project. With each visit, the photos got better and better.”
It was only this year that the computer technology caught up with his obsession of photographing every single detail of a particular structure. As a result of improvements in computer image processing technology, he was able to turn his fine-grained medium format negatives into high-resolution panoramas with huge levels of detail.
The result – large, composite images – allow the the view to experience the city, exactly how it was in the 1980s and early 1990s.
His panoramas capture the entire Liffey quays before redevelopment to ensure “new generations experience the Dublin of that pivotal era, now largely lost to visual memory”.
A statement on his website is appropriate to quote on this Bloomsday weekend.
Much like in that famous quote attributed to Joyce “… if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed …(from his Ulysses)”, I too had the madness and the ambition to photograph every building under threat of demolition, document what I could of the last cornershops, antique furniture businesses and auction houses along the Liffey.
I concentrated on Georgian architectural ensembles (still posessing grandeur in dilapidation) and the poor but lively Inner City neighbourhoods: shopkeepers, marketers, children playing in the streets, local characters.
This whole microcosm would irrevocably change a few years later, in the boom years of the Celtic Tiger.
Now, after 30 years, I am able to realise my vision (unattainable with solely chemical photographic technique), of re-constructing a memory of Dublin’s Inner City in the pre-boom years – and to bring back this vision to the place that inspired it.
At the end of the 1980s, Jazay made a film about the area and became involved in discussions about what should become of the quays.
He says he wanted to portray the inner city as “alive” and not a derelict space.
“I had this vision of beauty, grand architectural heritage and a face of the city that was only appreciated by very few people.”
He explains that caring about the architectural heritage at that stage in the ’80s was an “exotic concern” given the grave economic problems.
That vision he had as a 16-year-old has now come to life. He says the little sketches he made back in 1982 are “pretty close” to what his full Dublin Before The Tiger exhibition will be.
Through his images, he wants to show the way of life that is now gone, recreating time and space in a myriad of ways. He focuses on the corner shops that are no longer trading, the family businesses that were cherished and the auction houses that were numerous in the area.
“At that time in history, the buildings were very rich in layers. You could see the origin in the Georgian buildings, and then the additions and the repairs. The signs of people living there for centuries.
“They are a rich, layer-cake of history.”
He says he has shown the images to people who never saw Dublin during this period and they could not name the city.
They thought the images were “very exotic”, he added.
While the images you see here are scaled down, Jazay imagines them being shown as large, immersive prints at an exhibition.
He wants them to be printed in large sizes – at least 2×6 metres.
“What you can’t see in the web images, is the amazing level of detail,” he explains.
The artist wants people to be able to stand in front of the images and “take in the architectural detail, see where each shop and sign was, discover the very fabric and the marks left on the buildings”.
He will be in return to Dublin in July for the PhotoIreland Festival, hoping to drum up interest in exhibiting the work.
His ideal location for the event would be a non gallery space, such as a disused building.
“The response so far has been really good,” he says. “Maybe it’s the right time – after the boom, after the crash. There is an awareness of what has happened.”
The presence of traditional techniques and businesses has also struck a chord, given the resurgence in small enterprises recently.
And, does he still love Dublin?
Yes. He never came back during the so-called Celtic Tiger but he had “heard stories”.
“So when I came back after a 20-year hiatus, I wasn’t shocked or surprised. But, compared to what it could have been, I still liked the quays and the new boardwalks. It’s nice to have less traffic and more people.
“Of course, it would have been good to see more of the buildings kept but it is still immensely lively and the basic heights of the buildings have remained.
“I also like the modern aspects of Dublin – the open society, the multiculturalism. I still love the city and look forward to coming back.”
To see more, check out David Jazay’s website.
Definitely time the banks update their systems. This is getting way too common. The fees have gone up, start using them to provide a service!
Most of the banks systems are ok. It’s just ulster bank who’s systems are outdated but will cost millions to update
Karl
Did you not hear of the Bank of Ireland problems?
THIS! Most banks still use mainframes for a lot of their nightly transactions. They need to rebuild!
Its Ulcer bank at this stage for its customers…
Perhaps if they try to FIX the problem rather than FOX it
as in your headline,the customers will be happier!
Thanks for pointing that out :) I’ve FIXED it now.
You FOX Michelle and your fixing !
Continually having computer problems, yet continually increasing fees. Left them a year ago, terrible bank to deal with.
Couldn’t have had a different experience with them myseflf. There was an issue about a year ago that was an inconvenience but I’ve never had another issue with them and always found their staff so helpful with everything. Mobile banking is down at the moment but you can still log on through normal means as well as using the full website through your mobile device. Very minor inconvenience unless you want to be offended by it.
Never took offence to them, just got fed up paying through the nose for a service they couldn’t supply. You obviously weren’t affected when their computer systems went belly up for weeks, direct debits were being taken out twice, wages not going in etc. a joke of a bank.
Yes I lost track of how much was in my account for a few days but it got sorted and they reimbursed me for two transactions that hadn’t happened! I pay no fees at all for my banking thankfully and they have branches open on a Saturday! Like I said some people go out of their way to be upset!
Ulster bank is one of the better banks surprisingly enough. They were the last to raise their fees and they’ve a good rep for business banking.
Had to leave AIB after 12 years with them – so rude and their fees were rocketing.
Believe me Ted I haven’t got time to go out of my way and get upset with a bank. Way to busy to be checking accounts all the time in case they’ve made more mistakes. That’s why they lost me and hundreds of other customers over the last year or two. I guess some people put up with bad service and some don’t. Like I said, a joke of a bank.
Thank god I’m not one of their 600 customers
Well I am a customer and I’m praying to Joe Pesci that they get it sorted soon
Call those 2 Canadian kids to sort it out.
I remember the good old days when banks used to at least pretend that they were looking after their customers,
when mobile banking was a lorry with a teller in the back.
I’m off to the credit union thanks.
No fee internet banking, direct debit, cash card facilities
run by volunteers who don’t cost us €100 billion every 20 years or so.
Feckin’ shower of bankers…!
HACKERS !
All those screenshots are from UK customers (Ulster bank in NI, RBS in UK).
Is there any proof of ROI customers affected?
NI is part of the UK. RBS in GB.
Meant to say that!
Thank god I left them after the last major F up. Their I.T section is absolutely useless
Working now – first thing I notice is the direct debits have been taken. Back to normal, or what passes for it in a nationalised bank.
Ulster Bank couldn’t find their arse with both hands and a map !
Ulster Bank still use pen and paper. I rang today told by them my loan was with collections because it was in arrears. I said it couldn’t be and it’s most likely in credit. On hold for 36 mins while some eejit worked it out manually. At the end and after telling me 3 iMessage that I was in arrears the first eejit tells me I’m in credit and my account has been removed from arrears. They are a joke of a bank and shouldn’t even be in business.
Can they please change their debit cards. Such bad quality.
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