The Writing On The Wall

SINCE 1980-81 Northern Ireland s streets have become an art gallery of painted propaganda. The first politicised murals of this phase of the conflict originated from within the Provisional Republican movement and were aimed at eliciting support for the Hunger Strikers in the H-Blocks. Most of the murals from that era have now disappeared to be replaced by those concerned with the political agenda as Sinn Fiin became more involved in electoralism.
Since the first ceasefires in 1994 there has also been a shift in the emphasis and proliferation of Loyalist murals all over Northern Ireland. Ironically, at a time of evolving peace, the Loyalist murals have focused on overtly militaristic and confrontational themes.
However, David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) linked to the UVF commented a further change recently:
I think that we have seen [Loyalist] murals develop, he said. There are a few on the Shankill Road with cultural connotations. I think that that is slowly but surely becoming a factor in them. I think, also, that there are quite a few of them that are about memorial as opposed to aggression.
If we examine the murals, and I m not an expert on them, you will see the beginnings of a change. One: with the cultural theme. Two: with the memorial theme to them rather than the simple explicit sense of aggression.
However, Bill Rolston, an academic lecturer, political analyst and author of two books on Northern Ireland s murals, believes that Loyalist muralists face problems of subject and identity as peace evolves.
On the Loyalist side there s a tendency to do murals associated with paramilitaries themselves, he says.
Probably 90% of Loyalist murals throughout the North are of paramilitary images. Now you could point to reasons for that, you could talk about fear, identity, reassuring their communities, that, to misquote Gerry Adams, We haven t gone away, you know . If the Peace Process does survive they re going to reach a crossroads quite soon, where they are going to have to think of some other things to paint.
Referring to the commemorative theme of many recent Loyalist murals, Mr. Rolston says, That has been a change. The guns aren t pointing at you, the viewer, but they re placed down into the ground. I ve talked to some Loyalist muralists who ve said, we d love to open up much more , but have said either, We don t know quite what to paint or We re not sure if our communities could handle it at the moment .
The murals also inspire a sense of pride and ownership amongst the majority of those living in the areas or where they appear, as Bill Rolston recognises.
In a lot of cases I find people who are proud of the mural in their street, who have protected their mural in some way. If someone comes along and paintbombs that mural in the middle of the night they ll be out with rags to clean it up before the paint dries. Overall they are owned, admired and protected by the communities.

THE FIRST OF ULSTER S MURALS
The first political or cultural mural to appear within the six counties, prior to partition, was painted on the Beersbridge Road in East Belfast. The mural, painted in 1908, was of King Billy and was done by a man called John McLean who worked in Belfast s Harland & Wolff shipyard. On Rutland Street there is another King Billy mural which has been there since the mid 1920s.
In Derry s staunchly Loyalist Fountain Estate, the sole remaining Protestant enclave on the overwhelmingly Nationalist West Bank of the city, there was an even older King Billy mural. It was painted in the early 1920s. When the Fountain Estate was redeveloped 15-20 years ago the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, following representations from local residents, had the wall on which the mural was painted moved to the redeveloped estate. There it was touched up to restore it to its original quality. Eventually, after more than 75 years of existence and one forced removal, the wall collapsed and the mural was lost.

THE ARTIST S PERCEPTION OF MURALS
Brian Patterson is a 40-year-old Monaghan man living and working as an artist in Belfast. He was formerly a Director with the Belfast-based community art group Catalyst. Referring primarily to the murals within the Protestant sector of the Northern community he says.
When I first came to Belfast there were all these King Billy murals but they have now been usurped by murals bearing the insignia of the UVF and UDA. Those murals have moved from representing Unionism to representing Loyalism.
Brian, who came to Belfast to study art at the University of Ulster s Art College adds, When I was at the Art College I realised there were all these artists coming to Belfast because, for them, it was like going to Beirut and it looks good on your CV. It s not until you are living outside Northern Ireland that you realise other people perceive it as a quite unique situation.
Elaborating on the presence and role of murals within both sectors of the Northern Ireland community Brian explains, The murals are taking a lot of the underlying problems or situations and putting them on the walls. So the murals become like a newspaper and you can walk around in the newspaper, in the text of what s being written or drawn.

MURALS OUTSIDE NORTHERN IRELAND
In London, during the era of the now disbanded Greater London Council (GLC) under the leadership of Ken Livingstone, the local authority sponsored numerous murals which, like the GLC itself, are now gone.
Bill Rolston also reveals that in the US, There are approximately 1,000 murals in Los Angeles and roughly 800 in the San Francisco bay area, many of them painted by Chicanos, Koreans and women s groups.
In Nicaragua, after the Sandinista revolution, a lot of murals began to appear in every single village. Portugal also saw an upsurge of murals during the 1970s after the dictator, Salisar, was overthrown.
Bill adds, There are murals in the most surprising of places. For example, if you go to Luxor in Egypt, to the villages around the Valley of the Kings and Queens there are murals painted on ordinary peasant walls there.
Families get someone to paint the outside of the house with symbols about Mohammed, about Mecca, about aeroplanes taking their relative to Mecca and when the relative returns they ll kill a goat and have a three-day party and everyone will admire the mural. So, there s murals in the most surprising of places. n