The Vanishing Irish

January 24, 2009 11:11 PM

Ghosts of the Faithful Departed. Irish photographer David Creedon's pictures of dilapidated houses in rural Ireland abandoned during the mass emigration that took place between 1949 and 1989. [Via]
posted by homunculus (13 comments total)

Haunting, thanks for this.
posted by thatbrunette at 1:10 AM on January 25, 2009

These are very interesting. I've been inside more than a few old Icelandic farms and they've never had any items left in it, just empty rooms, the occasional stove and once or twice a piece of furniture. Of course, the Icelandic population movement out of rural areas was all to small towns and Reykjavík, so it was feasible to bring more things with you than when traversing the Atlantic.
posted by Kattullus at 1:14 AM on January 25, 2009

Wonderful, thanks! Ireland is great for abandoned beauty. These public swimming baths are near where I live. Lots more at Abandoned Ireland. I used to swim in them as a kid. Now they're abandoned to junkies, right in the middle of the prime Dublin seafront. And Cormac Phelan has more goodies on Flickr.
posted by stonepharisee at 2:02 AM on January 25, 2009 [1 favorite]

These images are beautiful but it's obvious that quite a bit of photoshopping has been done to augment the colours, which makes him seem a little disingenuous when he says "I decided at an early stage to shoot in colour as against black and white because this allowed me to capture the unique rich colours within the houses which were in contrast to the poverty of the times. I have strived at all times not to move or arrange items but to photograph as found".

Also, I don't like his prose, but that's just me. For a slightly less cliched view of Ireland, try this good stuff from Dublin's Gallery of Photography
posted by tiny crocodile at 5:09 AM on January 25, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't believe the "as found" part either. The leaning crucifix, the bottle of Paddy and the tag on the steamer trunk are too pat. The link to the Dublin Gallery of Photography was great though!
posted by sneebler at 7:26 AM on January 25, 2009

I enjoyed the series, but the clichéd-ness really hit me at the shot of the Virgin Mother behind the empty bottle of PADDY'S OLD IRISH WHISKEY. I had to make a balloon and fly away with me Lucky Charms.
posted by applemeat at 7:34 AM on January 25, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have strived at all times not to move or arrange items but to photograph as found".

I wondered about this too, tiny crocodile. Or was their really a Catholic icon in the background of virtually every scene Creeden decided to shoot?
posted by applemeat at 7:34 AM on January 25, 2009

haunting- though I too wasn't quite convinced that he didn't arrange things a bit.
posted by arnicae at 8:53 AM on January 25, 2009

In fairness, there was a time when those Sacred Heart pictures really were in almost every house. But as my boyfriend , looking over my shoulder, pointed out - no-one has ever left a bottle of whiskey behind. The other odd thing is that these houses haven't apparently been messed with by kids - most abandoned buildings in Ireland would be grafitti-ed like the Public Baths in stonepharisee's link (which I love by the way).
posted by tiny crocodile at 9:03 AM on January 25, 2009

Yeah, it's kind of hard to believe that many of these weren't arranged, but then why make the claim at all and not just admit that he arranged objects that he found at the site? Either way, they're striking photographs.
posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on January 25, 2009

Look, we have pictures of the Virgin Mary, Singer sewing machines, and empty bottles of Paddy everywhere. And if you don't believe us, we'll fucking fight you.
posted by Elmore at 1:41 PM on January 25, 2009 [4 favorites]

You're right Elmore, I don't know what I was thinking. My house actually looks like this.
posted by tiny crocodile at 4:42 PM on January 25, 2009 [1 favorite]

I surprised that these houses haven't been gutted by scavengers and their contents sold to the company that outfits Bennigan's and other "Irish" places across the US (and the world, I suppose).
posted by the christopher hundreds at 5:18 PM on January 25, 2009