In celebration of the Bealtaine Festival's 30th anniversary, a captivating exhibition of archival photographs has been commissioned and is being hosted in collaboration with the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks. This exhibition offers a unique glimpse into the evolution of Dublin's youth culture across three pivotal decades, featuring images from the 1960s through to the 1990s.

This exhibition is an expansion of 2024's Teenage Kicks Rebellious Youth Subculture and Street Style in Dublin (1970s-1990s); an event hosted at Photo Museum Ireland.

Curator Garry O’Neill has spent two decades collecting and sourcing material from the general public, photographers and photojournalists. This exhibition is formed from this active archive, documenting Dublin’s rich and diverse decades of youth culture, viewed through a prism of its street styles and subcultures, both retro and progressive.

The origins of this archive are rooted in a project documenting street styles and subcultures in a  book collaboration with Dublin designer Niall McCormack, leading to the publication of "Where Were You? Dublin Youth Culture & Street Style 1950–2000" (Hi Tone Books, 2011), numerous exhibitions over the years, and the establishment of the independent publishing house, Hi Tone Books.

As part of the Bealtaine Festival programme for this exhibition, the Museum will host a panel discussion at Collins Barracks on Friday 16th May from 6 – 7.30pm with speakers Garry O’Neill, Dandelion - DJ and vintage style icon, Deirdre Macken - founder of Sé Sí and Lucy's Lounge and author Eamon Delaney.