Joe Caslin

Designboom Magazine has Described the work of Joe Caslin as ​“towering works of art [that] appear like massive sketch books across the architecture of Ireland’s cities.” Caslin is the recipient of the 2013 Association of Illustrators award for New Talent in Public Realm Illustration. He creates highly accessible work that engages directly with the social issues of modern Ireland. Caslin confronts the subjects of suicide, drug addiction, economic marginalization, marriage equality, stigma in mental health, the Irish asylum system, institutional power, and most recently, sexual consent. The monochrome drawings Caslin creates live with us and against many of us for some time before washing away. They hold a mirror up to the kind of society that we are, while asking us individually what kind of society we want to be a part of. In 2018, Caslin worked with the National Gallery of Ireland to create Finding Power, a huge mural of the writer and activist Stephen Moloney installed in the gallery’s courtyard. His current project, Our Nation’s Sons, aims to persuade entire communities to address the very real problem of young male’s apathy and their mental well-being.

Supported by the Institute for the Humanities.