Taken just before Bloomsday in 1983, today’s photograph is captioned “Chimney Piece”, and celebrated the installation of “the first work in what is to be a complex of pieces at Beach Road, Sandymount, Dublin, dedicated to James Joyce”. That ambitious Joycean peregrination never materialised, but Cliodna Cussen’s stone sculpture, carved in the shape of a giant quotation mark, has become a Sandymount landmark in its own right. Inscribed with the words “An Gallán Gréine do James Joyce” (A Solar Pillar for James Joyce), the giant chunk of stone – in fact, it’s said to be made from four different chunks of stone – acts as an indicator for the winter solstice sunrise. Once derided as an eyesore and many times scheduled for demolition, they’ve now become an icon of the city, and attained listed-building status in 2014. Or maybe the sculpture is leaning in to them?

Source: The Irish Times December 08, 2018 06:00 UTC