The Edge

This body of new work by Una Sealy RHA explores the Dublin north side suburbs from Baldoyle to Howth, the area where she grew up and returned to after 20 years, to bring up her own family. The Edge refers to the edge of town, the edge of land where it meets the sea, and the edge where childhood meets adulthood, depicted in landscapes, seascapes, and portraits of teenagers and young people who are growing up in same environs as the artist. Some things have changed: The old factory, which has always been there, is now derelict and earmarked for redevelopment, which will dramatically change the nature of this old fashioned village. Sealy has painted the crumbling industrial site before it is transformed into gleaming apartments and retail units. Some things stay the same: the timeless cliff path to the lighthouse, Baldoyle estuary and the beach, remembered from early childhood, and somehow ingrained in the psyche. Some things are in constant flux: the faces of teenagers changing on a daily basis, which Sealy sees in her own children and their friends. And there’s always the train, a constant moving presence, with its overhead wires, signals and paraphernalia, connecting – the edge – to the city.