Dublin photography: A city that has vanished yet feels strangely familiar

Mick Brown’s exhibition The Days That Were In It provides a photographic record of Dublin’s street life

Mick Brown

Sun Sept 14 2025 - 06:00

When Mick Brown was a teenager, he bought a camera and walked the streets of his native Dublin, recording the events of the day with no particular purpose in mind. Fifty years later, Brown’s curiosity and talent has just been rewarded with a solo exhibition in the Little Museum of Dublin.

The scale of recent changes is evident in Brown’s remarkable collection of photographs, and the exhibition, which is called The Days That Were In It, provides a photographic record of Dublin’s street life – communities of people at work and play from 1960 to 1990.

From the Iveagh Market to the Capitol Theatre, here is a Dublin that has vanished from view, yet still feels strangely familiar. Brown’s photography offers a panoramic view of the capital – and of those days on empty streets where old ghosts meet.

St Patrick's Day Parade, Cuffe Street, Dublin, 1981. Photograph: Mick Brown

Stephens Green Grafton Street, Dublin, circa 1980. Photograph: Mick Brown

Marlborough Place, off Talbot Street, Dublin, 1975. Photograph: Mick Brown

The 'Weigh In', Bridgefoot Street, mid 1970s. Photograph: Mick Brown

Helping with enquiries, Thomas Street - Bridgefoot Street, 1975. Photograph: Mick Brown

Newport Street, Marrowbone Lane, Dublin, 1980s. Photograph: Mick Brown

Waiting for Godot, Usher's Quay, Dublin, 1969. Photograph: Mick Brown

Gardiner Street Middle, Dublin, 1969. Photograph: Mick Brown

The Bright Lights, Princes Street, O'Connell Street, 1967. Photograph: Mick Brown

The Days That Were in It is now on view in the Bernardo O’Higgins Gallery, Little Museum of Dublin. Tickets at littlemuseum.ie Trevor White is founder of the Little Museum of Dublin