Photo display returns for the Regatta

AN exhibition of old and new photographs of Wicklow town will go on display as part of the Wicklow Regatta Festival.

In June, Wicklow Photography Club held a popular exhibition ‘Looking to the Future while Remembering Wicklow’s Past’ in the County Buildings.

Thanks to a Creative Ireland grant from Wicklow County Council, the exhibition is being remounted and launches today (Wednesday, August 1) in the former Delahunt’s hardware building and will remain open until Monday, August 6.

Eleven photographers from Wicklow Photography Club spent months digitising, repairing and restoring approximately 100 old photographs of people and places in Wicklow town, working with the assistance of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board and facilitated by fine art printmaker Conor Wickham.

Susanna Braswell, Secretary of Wicklow Photography Club, said: ‘The exhibition shows photographs spanning 100 years from the 1860s to the 1960s. The majority are previously unseen and have been sourced from individuals within the town. They include historically significant images of Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond as well as images of bygone events, ordinary people and businesses in the town’.

The restored images were grouped into themes. The group then set out to capture new images of people and places in present day Wicklow town using the themes identified from the historical images.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider what has vanished, been lost or simply changed over time.

If you have an interesting photograph of Wicklow past – people or places – club secretary Susanna Braswell can be contacted at susannamoran@ eircom.net.