Capturing town’s dark side
A photographic exhibition casting light on Dundalk’s hidden histories opens in The Basement Gallery, An Táin Arts Centre, on Thursday June 15.
‘Hidden Dundalk’ is a collection of photographs that detail the strange and wonderful gothic architecture around town by local photographers Neil Waters and Inga Kazokaite, who unwittingly started this project over three years ago while out walking the dog.
Neil comments: ‘What started out as a fun way to spend a Sunday, turned into a fine collection of photos which became an exhibition. We feel very proud to have it displayed in Dundalk’s primary arts location, the An Tain Arts Centre.
‘Like most major towns and cities decorated with carvings and emblems from an unexplained past, Dundalk has plenty of evidence of this bygone era,’ he explains. ‘ There has been lots of otherworld mythologies in Ireland; Tir na Nog, The Celts, The Druids, Newgrange, Monks, Anglo-Normans, Templar Knights, Kings and Queens, Peerage Bloodlines…all steeped in symbolism. This exhibition attempts to document these secretive symbols through a collection of photographs that highlights the black magic that surrounds us all.’
‘ These images are hidden in plain sight,’ he continues. ‘Like the old magicians’ trick, the slight of hand, these symbols leave us guessing how we never spotted them before, how they are somehow blind to us and how we have fallen for taking them as token gestures from an old, defunct generation. Go to any major city and you’ll it heavily decorated in cherubs, strange symbols and many occult references. Why? Who commissioned such dark secrets to reign over us? You’ll have walked past these coded messages for years now, not even noticing their existence, never mind their relevance or significance.’
“This exhibition for me is an experiment and experience,’ says Inga, whose love of photography was passed down to her through her grandfather, who was an established photographer in Eastern Europe in the 1960’s. ‘It’s a beginning of something new. The exhibition is like a photograph: it has to tell a story visually so we’ve tried to incorporate two things – a photograph and the story behind it. We worked hard for the last three years and we are delighted to be able to publish this locally.’.
With an increased interest in rapidly-changing global events, the artists are aware that symbols play a very important role in the very fabric of life. Neil says ‘We feel it’s important to raise awareness of Dundalk’s past as we head inexorably towards a brave new world. Many people are unaware of the existence of these symbols and architecture so consider them to bear no significance. But, clearly, an occult agenda is manifesting itself in great force right in front of our eyes, fuelled by symbols. In this exhibition, we are not attempting to decipher or decode these symbols, we are simply illustrating their existence. This is art, that’s all.’
He feels that Basement Gallery, once a jail and torture chamber has many of its own secrets, is a very appropriate venue for the exhibition . ‘It is the natural habitat for an exhibition like this and we sincerely thank Paul Hayes, manager of An Tain, for engaging us and commissioning us as part of their emerging artists program”.
The exhibition opens on Thursday June 15 and runs until Saturday July 8th July. Admission is free and the Basement Gallery will be open Tuesday-Saturday from 10am to 4pm.