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Belfast Murals
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Belfast has a long history of murals – whole gable walls being used for the depiction of political and paramilitary scenes, some commemorating ‘war’ dead, others making political statements, and also remembering community sporting heroes such as George Best etc. In the loyalist areas there are also a lot of murals declaring loyalty to the British Crown and Royal Family, and in the Nationalist areas there are some examples of wider conflicts such as American involvement in Iran and Iraq, the Palestinian conflict etc.
Nowadays these murals form an essential part of any tourist tour of the City.I spent an hour or two taking photographs of many murals from both sides of the community today, and have put them in my pbase gallery which you can view at :
http://www.pbase.com/rossomck/belfast_murals
Here are some examples:
In this first one, you can see a building in the background – Crumlin Road courthouse, where a lot of the paramilitaries would have faced trials during the troubles!! It is now derelict, as is the Crumlin Road jail which was on the opposite side of the road.
This one is probably the most famous one of all – the mural for Bobby Sands, the first hunger striker to die, which is on the Falls Road. Incidentally, all these murals are within a mile or so of each other, such is the nature of Belfast!
A colourful collection indeed! And one for posterity as the murals are an ever-changing feature.
Here in Derry I recently saw a mural that had escaped my notice before. It had George Washington on it, and a quote about the excellent fighting men of Ulster, and some statistics about the large number of Ulster Protestants who made up Washington’s fighting force. Across the road was a mural of the Queen (i.e. Elizabeth II of England). The irony that George Washington was at war with the Queen’s great great great grandfather was obviously lost on those who painted the murals. To a foreigner like me (I’m Welsh) the whole thing often seems absurd.
I must try to get a photo with them both in.
From time to time I go to Belfast from Dublin but I always stay in the city centre. I have never ventured to any of the residential areas where these murals are found. Would it be safe for a jackeen to enter loyalist and republican areas to document the social history? How would the locals react?
You may think think me a bit thick for asking the question but it is genuine.
PS I hope it is not against the rules of the forum but here is a Belfast shot I took which is on a photoblog http://irishbloggers.my-expressions.com/
I can’t speak for Belfast, but tour buses go round Derry’s Bogside with the punters jumping from the (so-called) Paddywagon to snap photos of the murals and the monuments. I’m sure you’d have no probs at all in Nationalist Belfast, but you might want to zip your lips in the Shankill or Sandy Row as your accent is likely to mark you out as a visitor!
Joking aside, in broad daylight you could photo a lot of murals and no one would give you a second glance. Go up Crumlin Rd past the Mater Hospital, or down the Falls. Brandyman will probably tell you a 100 other places.
Jools
I too these photos on a Sunday afternoon and to be honset there were very few people about. The loyalist ones are right in the heart of the loyalist estates and I was a bit wary of being approached, but I saw a black taxi stop and 2 american tourists got out with cameras – so clearly the local black taxi men are happy to take people on photographic tours of these areas. I know my way about Belfast reasonably well, but in some of these estates you can still lose your bearings very easily.
I would simply advise you to be sensible if you do go, and do it in morning/afternoon rather than early evening.
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