Misneach
Equestrian statue in Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland
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  Misneach | |
 Interactive map of Misneach | |
| Location | Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°23′35″N 6°15′48″W |
| Designer | John Byrne |
| Type | Equestrian statue |
| Material | Bronze |
| Completion date | 17 September 2010 |
| Dedicated to | Irish youth and Irish culture |
Misneach (English: Courage) is an equestrian statue by John Byrne in Ballymun on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. The statue was commissioned by Breaking Ground on behalf of Dublin City Council's Ballymun Regeneration Limited.[1][2] It is the only surviving outdoor equestrian statue in Dublin.[3] It was unveiled in front of Trinity Comprehensive School on 17 September 2010.[2]
The sculpture was originally intended to be placed at the proposed town centre on the former Ballymun Shopping Centre site, however due to plans for a proposed Ballymun MetroLink station, the sculpture was relocated to Ballymun's secondary school, Trinity Comprehensive School.[4]
Design and symbolism
The statue depicts a 17 year old Ballymun local, Toni Marie Shields, wearing an Adidas tracksuit on a military-style horse. The bronze statue was structured from a wax mould of the Gough Monument, with Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough replaced with Shields.[5][6] Shields underwent laser scanning in London to make a computer-generated wax mould for the sculpture.[2]
Shields was chosen among 20 other Ballymun locals interested in the sculpture in 2007, with the sculpture being based off a photograph of her riding a horse at the Kill Equestrian Centre in Kildare.[5]
According to Breaking Ground and John Byrne, the sculpture subverts the expectation typically associated with military imagery, replacing the controversial Gough with an ordinary person to convey a message of "motivation, youth and womanhood". The decision to have the rider be a local teenager wearing a tracksuit was intended to represent and celebrate Irish youth and culture. Speaking for the Irish Independent, Shields said she felt that "the statue was not of her, rather it was for all the young people of the area."[2][7][8]
Reception
Dermot Bolger, writing for the Irish Daily Mail, said what made Misneach wonderful is its "sense of democracy and equality" in a time where there "might seem to be little to celebrate in Ireland".[9] Donal Fallon of the Irish Independent described the sculptures depiction of an ordinary person in place of Gough as "reclaiming it for the people".[6] In her book Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them, Maeve Higgins compared the statue to another equestrian statue depicting a teenager as the rider in Richmond, Virginia by Kehinde Wiley titled Rumors of War.[10]