Faces Of Rathmines: An Artistic Tribute to an Invisible Front Line.

A promenade exhibition in Rathmines, Dublin, in January 2022

Health workers have, rightfully so, been the recipients of much praise throughout the pandemic and have been lauded as the official ‘front line’ since Covid struck but in this exhibition, I wished to pay tribute to what I call, ‘the invisible front line’. These subjects are people who have been a constant presence in Rathmines throughout the pandemic and as such have made the community seem normal despite the abnormality of the new environment that we have all had to live with. The faces that you see are the people who I would encounter in my day-to-day life and as such make this a very subjective exhibition. They are, however, my ‘invisible front line’ and I’m sure each of you will have your own ‘invisible front line’ too. My goal was simple: I wanted to raise the profile of these traders, civil servants and ordinary people as a tribute to their continued presence in the community - even at times of risk. It is my hope that this exhibition, in turn, will remind people that throughout the last year or so there has been a huge increase in mental health issues. For this exhibition, I was delighted to be supporting youth mental health charity, ‘A Lust For Life’ who have been helping young people deal with the new reality of post pandemic stress.

Faces of Rathmines was a promenade exhibition, in which the portraits were mounted in the windows of various businesses in the Rathmines area of Dublin, making an exhibition trail through the streets of Rathmines.

David Munro (2022)

THE PORTRAITS