Painting Peace
Following decades of cultural and political unrest, the people of Northern Ireland are turning towards murals as a vehicle to promote peace in a divided region.
Under the heavy grey sky, Belfast is bursting with colour. For decades, murals have played a vital role in illustrating the voice of the people and have been active in mobilising the local opinion between British and Irish ideologies. In periods of intense conflict, the murals are politically charged – depicting aggressive and threatening scenes but are also used in pushing a political agenda. Such expressions are less prevalent today, and there is a drive towards encouraging paintings that portray peace and tolerance.
“The first thing that you have to understand is that it is not about religion, it is about culture. Both are very different,” explained Peter Hughes, a driver and tour guide for Paddy Campbell Belfast Black Cab Tours. A distinction must be made; the British are the loyalists and the unionists, while the Irish are the nationalists and the republicans. Their respective religions – Protestant and Catholic are merely additional ammunition for division. “The Troubles” is the term used to describe the conflict, which lasted decades and it still reminiscent in Northern Ireland.
Although there is no longer furious hostility between both groups, the loyalists and the republicans are still divided, as a precautionary measure. The entire city is visibly separated with walls and gates – their neighbourhoods are alongside each other but one group will never have stepped foot in the other group’s area. One example is the peace wall splitting Alexandra Park in two: “When I was a child, I thought that the park ended here – but you can tell on the map that this side is only half the park,” said Hughes, who showed me the picture on a city map. There is a tall wall dividing the playgrounds, with a small recycling facility between them to keep clear boundaries.
Four gates are installed into a tall wall dividing the city, which open every morning at 8am and close every evening at 6pm. The neighbourhoods on either side were once at war with each other, and there are still obvious signs of struggle. The enforcement of the gates is problematic because the city’s only hospital is on one side and ambulances are forced to drive four miles extra to go around the wall since the gates are locked at night.
Belfast and Northern Ireland have a dark history stemming from an ongoing debate about which culture belongs in the region; the Ulster Scots of British decent, who allegedly arrived first centuries ago, or the Irish who claimed the land as theirs and want to create a united Ireland with their own values. It is an ethnic colonialism, which led to massive cultural and political disputes where the Irish population was openly persecuted – they were not given jobs and could only vote if they owned land. The unionists held the majority of government and law enforcement positions in the 1970s, which led to an Irish revolt.
In the Loyalist neighbourhoods, the Union Jack flies on every corner and patriotism is made clear. Early unionist murals, beginning in 1908, portray William III on a white horse to promote pride of being a part of the United Kingdom. He is still influential in their murals today. According to Bill Rolston, a Professor of Sociology at University of Ulster, loyalism symbolises defending Ulster with guns through the leading paramilitary group. They have no position on women, on Syria, on international and current events outside of the United Kingdom. The loyalists are still militaristically minded, and are unfortunately in control of what goes into their murals. As a result, the majority of loyalist murals still contain threatening images of men in masks carrying guns despite a call for peace. Unionism today, however, is more socially and culturally aware. As a result, there is a divide in ideologies within the group. On Shankill Road, people can find themselves surrounded by murals with guns pointing at them.
Republican murals have a story to tell, and they have more to write about since they are the underdogs in the conflict. This comes into their favour since the revolutionaries tend to always have the sex appeal, and they provoke sympathy for their cause and struggle. Today, the majority of the Irish murals push a progressive political agenda, depicting heroes and martyrs in their history, endorsing social movement for a united Ireland, incorporating ancient Irish myths, and a general promotion for peace and tolerance. A number of the walls on Falls Road in Belfast commemorate Bobby Sands; their symbolic martyr, and also the people who died during “The Troubles” in violence.
A movement to paint over the politically charged murals is currently in action, however, a distinction between those promoting militarism and violence versus those that urge a political viewpoint and analysis is crucial. “They are a record of the political/social concerns of the day in that society. So too is graffiti. The International Wall on Divis Street would seem to be a representation of a highly humanitarian, informed, internationally politicised, community – which hopefully influences not only the people of that community but also influences the international audience it attracts,” explained Joe MacCoille, a mural photographer from Belfast. It is a sensitive issue because of the deep-rooted cultural unrest. The murals are an important part of Northern Ireland’s history, and the walls tell stories from the past. They also act as a reminder that such hatred and violence is an unfortunate part of their story, but their presence is a deterrent of such atrocities ever again taking place.
At the same time, dark murals of masked men in guns is hardly promoting peace and tells only a violent story which could incite further hatred between both cultures in the region. It is for this reason that a shift towards apolitical murals has emerged. Yet the majority still have significance from the conflict felt in Northern Ireland.
This city has become a beacon for muralists to paint the political and social sentiment of the people, and their past must be honoured. It is difficult to measure the impact of the murals on the people and the peace process, but it has certainly had an effect, in both times of trouble and times of harmony. But a mural acts as an advertisement to the people who are exposed to it. It is demonstrative of the community, since a muralist unlike an artist, is an activist who voices the opinion of the people it represents.
The tension in Northern Ireland remains, but people have learned to live with it and take precautions against any further violence. The popular sentiment is that despite the strong feelings and the argument that the Ulster Scots arrived to the island first, this contentious region will inevitably become part of the Irish Republic. Only now is not the time since the people are still recovering from “The Troubles.” There have been initiatives to promote peace and co-existence between both groups, and within a couple generations the hostility will have evaporated. It is for this reason that the murals are important in preserving a significant part of Northern Ireland’s unique history; they will be the storytellers for the decades ahead.
