A county called WAWWA: Brian McCarthy’s ‘Boomtown’

Thumbnail Image
Files
Date
2011-05-28
Authors
Linehan, Denis
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Published Version
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
This piece offers a critical reading of Brian McCarthy's collection Boomtown as a form of visual social commentary on post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. Through the technique of magical realism, McCarthy constructs a counterfactual landscape that challenges the self-congratulatory narratives of the boom years, rendering visible the spatial and social wreckage left in their wake. Invoking Debord's critique of spectacle, the analysis argues that McCarthy's imagery disrupts the official iconography of Irish national identity, reframing familiar landscapes through references to Latin American inequality and urban ruin. The collection is read as a geographical and cultural document of a society suspended between rage, disillusionment, and the hollow political mantra of "We Are Where We Are."
Description
Keywords
Ireland , Brian McCarthy , Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland , Boomtown , Visual social commentary , [HumanEnvironment]
Citation
Linehan, D. (2011) A county called WAWWA: Brian McCarthy’s ‘Boomtown’. https://research.ucc.ie/admin/files/56524285/A_County_Called_WAWWA_Brian_McCarthy_s_Boomtown_Ireland_after_NAMA.pdf
Link to publisher’s version
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10468/18979
Collections
School of the Human Environment
Copyright
unspecified
© 2011, the Author.