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The Digital Hub launch new exhibit FACETS

Last Thursday, a new exhibition called FACETS launched at The Digital Hub in Dublin 8. The work-in-progress exhibition showcases award-winning photographer Mandy O’Neill’s exploration of The Liberties, and her response to what she describes as a “multifaceted area”.

O’Neill said there was no real concept at the beginning, but that the core themes which created the foundation for this project were “young people in education and responding to colour and light in the area”. She said that having an open-ended brief in such a complex environment “made the process more interesting”.

Mandy has been the artist-in-residence at The Digital Hub since July 2018. Speaking about the residency programme, CEO Fiach Mac Conghail said, “Mandy’s objective was to engage with the local community in a way that is meaningful and respects their co-existence with us”.

As part of the exhibition, Mandy collaborated with the 5th class boys from local school Francis St. CBS. Many of their portraits can be found within the exhibition, which also includes text that was collected during her time spent with them. “They were brilliant, they seemed to really enjoy being photographed. Francis Street just felt right because they’re young boys who are part of that vulnerable demographic”.

“I’d encourage anyone and everyone to come. They might see the beauty in their area, and maybe that will come through in the portraits as well.”

The exhibition runs between 12pm-5pm from March 29th to April 6th (excluding Sunday and Monday). For more information, visit www.thedigitalhub.com.

The Digital Hub and Local Community

The Digital Hub also have a filmmaker residency that recently hosted founder of Ishka Films, Mia Mullarkey.  “Mia worked with young people in the area and they put together a documentary about the homeless crisis which premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival” said Mac Conghail.

As well as these residencies, they run several learning programmes in partnership with BIMM and NCAD for members of the local community. Mac Conghail told The Liberty “For us, engaging with those colleges is about offering the possibility to young people in the area that education and further education will set you free.”

Mac Conghail finished by adding, “The mission for The Digital Hub is to create a tech-quarter in Dublin 8 and part of that is to begin to engage with the artistic community, and for them to understand that there’s a real role for them to play in the regeneration of this area.”

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