Christopher Reid

Ireland

Over a period of time I visited a flats complex in York Street, Dublin, which has since been locked up and prepared for demolition. I took photographs in many of the abandoned rooms. I wanted to document the spaces and history of the flats and to register the lives of people who lived there. The images attempt to show the social and physical links that sustained the people who lived in the flats. The hearth in many of the flats was photographed. The hearth has a special significance in Irish culture as literally being the heart of a home. Originally the fireplaces in these hearths were larger and could accommodate a grate. Food could be cooked and water boiled on this grate, indicated by the positioning of the mantelpiece.

Each hearth was individualised by the now-absent tenants. Choices regarding wallpaper, paint, tiles, ornaments, and other abandoned objects give clues about the people who lived in each flat. But these are not images that illustrate consumerist ideology about individual choice. Many of the flats have been abandoned for months, some for years. Some have been squatted in by homeless people. The windows of others have been smashed. Maintenance services have been withdrawn. Though the images have warmth and show signs of the now-absent tenants, they also show neglect and abandonment as a result, primarily, of the market price of the site. This price directly contributed to the dispersal of the tenants. The site has been sold and the flats – homes for four generations – have been locked up and prepared for demolition.

(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)