The Dublin bay: from Howth to Sandymount

I'm not very good at nature and landscape photography, but I couldn't help it, so I took some pictures here and there on the Dublin Bay which is simply magic.

If you're planning to visit the Irish capital city, don't miss Howth, Bull Island, Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and Sandymount.

Dublin art on the streets

I really love street art for a simple reason: it's one of the most democratic forms of art we have in this world, from both the artists and the public point of view.
As for the artists, they don't have to pay a rent for a studio where to work, nor for a gallery where to exhibit their works. This means that street art is accessible to all artists, regardless of their social and economic status.
As for the public, they don't have to pay a ticket and make long queues to see the works. Above all, everybody can usually understand the works, not just those with certain types of educational backgrounds.
In Dublin there are a lot of murals here and there, mostly in the Liberties and in Temple Bar. As for the last one, I would like to suggest that you take a look at the Icon Walk, a multi-street public art installation, which was created in 2010 by the Icon Factory, an artists co-operative that works to produce original images of a wide range of irish cultural figures or icons. Most of artists' works can be found at the Icon Factory Gallery, 3 Aston Place (Temple Bar).

All the murals I've seen in Dublin are in color. I converted to black and white the pics taken at the Icon Walk in order to express my feelings about the great work the artists and the volunteers are doing. This is my way to say "thank you and good luck to all of you".

Why do agnostics go to church?

I cannot answer for everyone, but I can speak for myself. I'm agnostic (not to say atheist) but I really like visiting churches, mosques or any other place of prayer. When they're empty I can enjoy the beauty of the most absolute silence, but when the faithful participate in this or that rite I'm intrigued by their "mass performance": it seems to me quite strange and interesting that people do the same things / say the same things at the same time, in the name of God. It's strange because I ask myself: "Why are they doing that in the name of God (one, invisible, not touchable, not human) and not in the name of all human beings (many, visible, touchable, human)? Interesting because it makes me say that human beings always need something greater or/and unreachable (God, an idea, an utopia) in order to gather together.
The question is quite complex and I don't want to bore you with it, if only I'm still reflecting on this subject. So, I leave you with some pictures, which were taken in various churches in Dublin.

Bloomsday on the wall

There are many ways to celebrate Bloomsday, the day on which Joyce's Ulysses takes place. You can dress up like like characters from the book, you can go to Sweny's, where Bloom bought the famous lemon soap, you can have a Bloomsday breakfast, you can do a tour of the places mentioned in the Ulysses or… you can paint a graffiti on a wall, in honor of the the great Irish writer. This is exactly what Kevin and Oner (artists of the Icon Factory) did at the Icon Walk in Temple Bar.

I spent some time with them, following their painting and writing from the very beginning and I may say that it was a great art performance, a really nice way to celebrate Bloomsday.