Hardwicke Street

Hardwicke street looks very different from its appearance in the early 20th Century, and yet, there's probably not much change in its character.

My goal when I set out with my sketchbook was really to try and see what James Joyce would have seen if he was walking the streets of Dublin today, and to understand what themes would have been close to his heart.

On this spread, questions of religion, but also of social justice, the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor, and a question - why did I not draw the young child Jesus standing in from of the Virgin Mary? The emptiness of the Church? The gap at its core?

"Repentance skindeep. Lovely shame. Pray at an altar. Hail Mary and Holy Mary. Flowers, incense, candles melting. Hide her blushes. Salvation army blatant imitation. Reformed prostitute will address the meeting. How I found the Lord."

The quote on the left is from the plaque under the statue, about three women who were killed on the same day in 1980. I could not find any information about them online.