Dublin Castle
In 2025, Lonely Osprey partnered with Dublin Castle and the Office of Public Works (OPW) on two concurrent exhibitions: “Artistic Islands” in the Coach House Gallery and “Irreverent Ireland” in the State Apartment Galleries. The work spanned exhibition films, promotional content, and photography documenting both shows.
Artistic Islands | Dublin Castle & The OPW (Dublin, 2025)
“Artistic Islands,” staged in Dublin Castle’s Coach House Gallery, paired the work of Antiguan polymath Frank Walter with Irish artist Maria Simonds-Gooding, tracing how island landscapes on opposite sides of the Atlantic shaped two distinct creative visions. The exhibition drew a line between Ireland’s Blasket Islands and the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands, following the migrations and shared histories that connect them, and gave particular attention to Antiguan seed work, a centuries-old art form Walter drew on throughout his practice.
As the primary production partner for the exhibition, Lonely Osprey delivered a multi-part visual campaign spanning three commissioned video pieces created for in-gallery viewing, promotional material for digital and social channels ahead of the opening, and medium format film and digital photography of the finished installation. That photography served two purposes: capturing the immersive, in-person experience of the gallery space itself, and supplying imagery for the exhibition catalog. The scope made “Artistic Islands” one of the largest and most involved projects undertaken with the Walter family to date.
Irreverent Ireland | Dublin Castle & The OPW (Dublin, 2025)
“Irreverent Ireland,” staged in Dublin Castle’s State Apartment Galleries, marked the homecoming of the Van der Hagen Painted Hangings. In 1731, Dutch artist Willem Van der Hagen and architect Edward Lovett Pearce transformed the Castle’s walls for a grand ball, painting vast canvases with an Italianate fantasy of garden follies, palaces and landscapes. The hangings later left Ireland and were rediscovered beneath layers of wallpaper at Knole, the Kent ancestral home of the Dukes of Dorset. Acquired by the OPW, they returned to Dublin Castle after nearly 300 years away.
Contracted alongside the “Artistic Islands” commission, Lonely Osprey produced the exhibition’s marquee film, “The Lost Ballroom of Dublin Castle,” which tells the story of the hangings and their journey home, along with exhibition photography and visual documentation of the show.