‘I can almost feel him here’

A huge crowd gathered in Nenagh last Sunday afternoon to witness the formal unveiling of the Emmet Place mural in honour of Shane MacGowan.

Enjoying glorious sunshine, those present were entertained by Sharon Shannon, Mundy, Camile O’Sullivan and a rich selection of local musical talent on a day of celebration.

The MacGowan mural - now one of two in Nenagh following completion last week of another tribute outside Philly Ryan's pub - was commissioned by Tipperary Co Council. Clonoulty artist Neil O'Dwyer was chosen to create it. He told the gathering beneath his much-admired work of art last Sunday that it was a great honour to be asked to paint Shane in Nenagh.

It took him nine days at the end of the summer to complete the mural. “I enjoyed every minute of it,” Neil told his audience.

Planning the mural began long before that. Neil decided from early on that he wanted to illustrate a “mature and thoughtful Shane performing on stage”. Shane in the mural is inviting viewers to guess at what he might be thinking.

The artist chose the background colours to represent the punk genre that Shane became so synonymous with. The Celtic shield represents protection but also Shane's love of ancient Ireland. The red rose is a reference to The Pogues' debut studio album ‘Red Roses for Me’, released this month 40 years ago.

The two green verticals on Shane's scarf serve to draw the viewer's eye to the portrait. They display some key figures in Shane's life, including Kirsty MacColl - with whom he sang his greatest hit ‘Fairytale of New York’ - members of The Pogues, Shane's wife Victoria, parents Maurice and Therese, and sister Siobhán. Beneath them, a very young Shane is depicted with his maternal relatives the Lynchs.

“It has been such a privilege to be part of this project,” Neil said of the mural, which is not his first painting of MacGowan, who had signed a smaller mural created by the artist years ago.

“I can say I never enjoyed a job as much as I enjoyed this one,” he added: “They tell me Shane would have approved. That will do me.”

ART RADIATING LIFE

Shane's sister Siobhán worked on the mural concept with Neil, along with the council's Nenagh Municipal District Administrator Rosemary Joyce and Arts Officer Melanie Scott, and also National Gallery art handler Graham Cahill. She praised the artist for his ability to capture her brother's “true likeness and expression”.

“As he began the work, it quickly became obvious that he was going to fullfil and exceed our every hope,” Siobhán said. “Not only is Shane's likeness and expression captured so beautifully, the mural has such a real presence and strong sense of Shane that I can almost feel him here looking down upon us. When I pass, it is almost as if I am popping by to say hello. The mural in some way radiates life.

“I cannot thank Neil enough for giving us, Shane's family, such a precious gift and for bringing him alive for the whole town, a place where he can always be with us, where we can tip our hats to him, blow a kiss, or sit on the bench to play a tune, as some have already started doing.”

Siobhán elaborated on the symbolism of the artwork, revealing that the burgundy jumper Shane is wearing - “a seemingly insignificant detail” - is a throwback to the jumpers her brother wore in the early '80s when he formed his band. “They were his uniform”, Siobhán recalled. Shane was “penniless” at the time and his mother bought the jumpers for him and presented them to him in bundles.

“This nod to the past and the very beginning of Shane's career and Mum's loving role in it made me smile and gave me a warm feeling.”

Siobhán spoke further about the significance of the red rose in the mural. “In life, Shane loved red roses and in his passing, we who loved him carried red roses for him on that last day. And so it is a symbol of undying love - his for us and ours for him.”

She went on to share childhood memories of playing in the Carney fields; going to Borrisokane to buy comics, sweets and action figures in Seánaí Moore's, and being brought to John Ryan's bar in Nenagh for a sandwich and red lemonade

“Shane's love and passion for this place was palpable,” Siobhán told those gathered. “He never lost that childhood passion. It influenced his every thought, deed and every lyric and melody he wrote.”

She spoke of how much it would have meant to her brother for the people of Tipperary to paint his image on a wall in his beloved Nenagh. “In those youthful days, it would have been all he could hope for. It truly would have been the measure of his dreams. Thank you all for making that dream come true.”

‘EVERYTHING HE HOPED FOR’

This train of thought was continued by Victoria, when she told those present that having a mural in Nenagh would be akin to having his statue in Times Square for Shane. “It would have been everything he hoped for, except maybe if you could get Tom Creagh on the other wall,” she joked, referring to Shane's longtime Nenagh companion.

Harking back to the eulogy she gave at her husband's funeral in Nenagh last December, Victoria talked about celebrating the achievements of the “vulnerable”, which is what Shane was, just like many of the people he had good time for in life, and those he wrote about in his songs.

“It's not just about Shane,” Victoria said, “it's actually about something a lot bigger. It's about being willing as a people to champion somebody who didn't live like the normal life; who didn't live the way you're supposed to live...

“I think the idea that somebody like that can be portrayed on a wall gives us hope,” she opined. “It says something pretty good about our society.”

District Administrator Rosemary Joyce thanked all involved in the mural project. She also praised the council staff, Spain AV and all the local artists that performed on the stage on Sunday, including Martin Grace, Cleo Griffin, Jimmy Tooher, Grace Tooher, Conor Fahy, Gary Scully, Keelan, Jack and Caithlin McGrath, Emma Fitzgerald and JP O'Meara.

Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District Cllr Fiona Bonfield said the council always intended to create a mural at Emmet Place after the buildings were demolished as part of the new traffic plan for the town. Shane MacGowan was an obvious choice for the mural, which has since gained international interest. She hoped the mural would become a place for people to pose for photographs at, to reminisce on MacGowan's legacy and maybe even to perform music beneath his backdrop.

“Shane, Nenagh loved you and we will never forget you,” Cllr Bonfield concluded.

PHILLY'S MURAL

A second mural of Shane MacGowan has meanwhile been created on the gable of Philly Ryan's pub on Silver St. Renowned as MacGowan's favourite haunt whenever he returned to Nenagh, Philly's has become something of a mecca for Pogues fans, who come to see the captivating array of photos and other memorabilia inside, some of it signed by the singer himself.

Proprietor Philip Ryan said people from all over the world have been visiting his famous pub in the months since Shane's death. He believed it would be fitting to create a MacGowan mural on the exposed gable.

He got in touch with mural artist Nik Purdy, whom Pilly was aware of from the Rory Gallagher mural he created in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, in 2022. Nik was already renowned for such pieces as the 1916 centenary, Maud Gonne and WB Yeats murals in his native Sligo. He relished the challenge of a Shane MacGowan project, and spent several days working on it using pictures of the artist selected by Philly. A close friend of MacGowan's for almost 40 years, Philly chose two images on which to base the mural, representing different stages of a life and legacy that will live on at the pub for a long time to come.