✨ Can Art Bridge the Divide? 🎨 The Northern Ireland Story

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Bridging the Divide: Public Art’s Role in Northern Ireland’s Reconciliation Journey


The Northern Irish Conflict:


From the beginning of the 1960s to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland experienced The Troubles, one of the bloodiest, most divided periods of the region’s history. The divisions fought over in the conflict were longstanding socioeconomic and political issues dating back to the 17th century which ultimately exploded between predominantly Protestant Loyalist communities and predominantly Catholic Nationalist communities. Throughout the conflict, public art was used as a form of expressing political allegiances in certain areas, marking territory and honouring martyrdom or political sacrifice. This was most visible in the many murals which emerged across Northern Ireland, as well as the increase in propaganda posters. After the conflict, public art was used as a tool for reconciliation between the opposing sides as artists strove to find connections and similarities between communities through their work. The question that remains is how successful can public pieces of artwork really be in rebuilding post-conflict communities and healing intergenerational traumas? What progress has there really been in public art in Northern Ireland since 1998?


The history of public art in Northern Ireland


Historically, public art within Northern Ireland has often been political. Loyalist areas have a longstanding history of murals, particularly those demonstrating a desire for maintained union with Britain, rather than Irish independence. As such, public art often depicted Loyalist symbols such as William of Orange or The Battle of the Boyne, a significant Protestant victory over Catholic King James II. The murals would often be repainted in time for Protestant celebrations on 12th July.


Image depicting a William of Orange mural retrieved from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-mu...


However, during The Troubles, murals began to appear in Catholic, Nationalist areas of Northern Ireland as well, beginning with murals which commemorated hunger strikers and steadily becoming more political. Public art then stretched to encompass propaganda posters which emerged particularly on the Republican and Nationalist sides. These were unflinchingly political and militant, using artistic expression to condemn government policies such as internment and the armed violence of Bloody Sunday as well as to increase suspicion of the ‘enemy’. This can be seen in the image below which portrays two British army soldiers dragging a civilian body under the words “JUDGE JURY EXECUTIONER”, condemning violence by the military towards civilians.


Image retrieved on 17/12/24 from https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/images/post...


These types of posters became a common expression of public art, however, as the conflict drew to a close, there was a shift as art began to be used as a mechanism for reconciliation and peace.


Below, we will examine several public artworks within Northern Ireland to explore the power of art as a connecting force in divided post-conflict communities.


From protests to peace


Image of ‘Hands across the divide’ retrieved from https://theramblingwombat.com/2017/05...


‘Hands across the divide’ (1992), having been installed in one of the last few years of the conflict, is one of the first indicators of this shift in artistic expression to focus on reconciliation and is a powerful example of public art as a tool for collective healing post-conflict. The position of the sculpture above the Craigavon Bridge is of utmost importance as, during The Troubles, this bridge came to signify the division within Northern Ireland, with Catholics generally living on the city side of the bridge and Protestants on the Waterside.


The artwork functioned as a physical representation of a shared desire for peace and reconciliation at this time. Notably, the figures hands do not quite reach each other, powerfully demonstrating how this peace and unity had not yet been achieved but the effort to do so was in motion, visible in the physical exertion of both figures reaching across to bridge the gap. Whilst militant public art did continue to be produced, following this installation in Derry/Londonderry, it began to have a more peaceful focus, particularly after the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998 which marked the ‘official’ end of the conflict.


An example of such peace-focused artwork is the Millenium Sculpture in Strabane, more commonly known as ‘The Tinnies’ (2000).


Image of ‘The Tinnies’ retrieved from https://garethwray.com/product/millen...


Strabane (which was an IRA stronghold during The Troubles and witnessed numerous bombings and violence from both sides of the conflict) i...