CeLiberties: An Exhibition by Duc Van Pham

Dublin 8 based artist, Duc Van Pham, presents a new exhibition as part of Culture Date with Dublin 8.

Exhibition Opening: Monday 4th May at 6pm
Exhibition Continues: Tues 5th -Sun 10th May 10am - 6pm

My best friend Seanie is a Celebrity of the Liberties; he’s worked in many of the bars in the area and grew up in Bason St. Flats. When we go out together so many people know and love him and I enjoy the easy Dublin banter I see. One day I called him a CeLiberty and we got a good laugh out of this. So, it was enviable when I was asked to take part in Culture Date with Dublin 8, that the title would call back to that.

I feel like I have a home here in the Liberties, a place where I belong. I never imagined I would have that feeling anywhere outside of my own area where I grew up in Thanh Binh in Ho Chi Minh City. But it’s the same. The geography is different, but the community of people and the everydayness of it is the same. There are differences for sure but I see more similarities than differences, a resilient people and place full of history and character.

Therefore, I wanted to make a show celebrating my home for the past fifteen years. This place has nurtured me in ways I couldn’t have imagined, and the feeling of belonging is one I am proud of. I have worked hard to get here and the people along the way have helped with this.

I am inspired by the places and the buildings, the nature and the people I see every day. The ordinary and the beauty of this small part of the world. Over the past fifteen years the Liberties has changed immensely with the development of new apartments and hotels - which all look the same. But the character and the people have managed to stay pretty much the same. I love the church on Thomas Street where a man once told me there were two hawks who nested every year there. I love the grotto on Meath Street and buying my fish in the Fish shop there. The red bricks on my road in Blackpitts feel romantic cozy and old and I love the smell of the Hops from the Guinness factory. I love Saint Patricks Park where I meet my Brazilian friend who works delivering food and I have enjoyed too many good nights in the brilliant pubs of the area. I didn’t want to capture this as it is but rather as I feel it.

One of the paintings is of my old neighbour Dessie who was an alcoholic and used to call over to ask me to fix his phone and inevitably we’d end up chatting. he was one of the first people to truly accept me and not make me feel outside or othered. He would bring me random gifts of shoes, chairs, books and cans of beer which people gave him for fixing their cars. He was a good man with an addiction, and I enjoyed remembering him as I made a painting of him. I feel like there is a Dessie in every small town in the world. A character of a man whose life got difficult along the way. I don’t know his full story; I only knew the man I met who always looked me in the eyes as he shouted answers - being deaf. A man who brought ice cream to our young African neighbour on a sunny day and always had a random story and a wave as he passed on his way home from the pub, his image intertwined in my mind with the red bricks of the houses.

I tried to explore fragments of places and look at the area from different angles. I wanted to capture my second home in a way that was a celebration, capturing the old and the new but mainly using my skills as a painter to try to show the spirit of this town I love so well, a town that has embraced me and given me a new sense of belonging. In these times of division, I feel it’s important to celebrate the joy and the community.

I feel very at ease with this show, it’s not a deep concept or an exploration of complex issues, rather it’s a simple celebration of a time and a place; of where I am at now. A simple thank you to the Liberties and to Dublin. I know I will continue to explore this in my work as I continue to live and explore this place, but for now, I have enjoyed taking my time with the people and the landscape and uncovering where I am at with that in a way that I hope is reflected in the paintings.