A Tallaght firefighter says he is grateful to the unknown person who nominated his artwork for a community award.
Geoff Tracey won the Arts and Heritage category in the Tallaght Person of the Year Awards. He secured a nomination due to his impressive portraits in the area, facilitated by the Dublin Canvas Project. Geoff has completed vivid portraits of people on traffic boxes in the Tallaght area, including local legend Paddy ‘Drac’ Finlay.
His portrait of Paddy, a local man who used to dress up as Count Dracula in Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day Parade, was met with rave reviews. It was sadly painted over in 2019, but Geoff is hopeful the initiative will lead to more artwork depicting local heroes in the future.
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Geoff, who works full time in Dublin Fire Brigade, said: “This was the first year the awards were back since Covid, which made the other night that extra bit special. There was 350 people at the awards, which was just brilliant. To have Tallaght Community Council ask me to paint a piece of a local man like Paddy Finlay, it’s a little thing that I can give back to the community I grew up in.”
He had to celebrate his win from afar as he was away for the weekend, but his parents attended the ceremony in his place and accepted the award. Another notable nominee includes Aon Sceal Café in Tallaght, an Irish language coffee shop that fed Geoff while he was painting on the street.
Although Geoff considers art as a hobby, second to his full time commitments, he has created a more recent portrait at the request of Tallaght Community Council. This work honours Des Carthy, a man who set up a music school in the area, and is painted onto the Dragon Pub in the heart of Tallaght Village.
He stresses the importance of art in community spaces, adding that it helps instil pride in the local area. Art has also become a family affair for Geoff in recent years.
He adds: "It’s a little thing that I can give back to the community I grew up in. I had my oldest son come with me to paint the Des Carthy piece. He likes the art as well and it’s nice to give back."
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