The purpose of this web site is to explore the role of art--as a form of aggression, mediation and remembrance--in North Ireland. This site focuses on two study areas: Belfast and Derry. In addition to urban areas, murals also contest the politics of place in rural areas. This research is important insofar as it provides key insights into the role of memory and sustained spatial practices (in the form of murals) in contesting planned social, cultural, economic and political spaces. It is within this context that murals challenge local and global ideological landscapes. The murals depicted on this web site are part of on-going field work performed since 1993 by Deborah Keirsey.
Mural painting has long been a vehicle for political speech. However, the importance and symbolism of people's art continues to grow as the boundary between personal, public and commercial art blurs. While the murals of Northern Ireland are increasingly being commodified as part of local tourist efforts, these paintings are different from many of the murals projects that are rapidly emerging throughout the Anglo-North America. That is, these murals are often reactionary and pointed. In contrast, efforts in Canada and the US are often the result of more structured socio-political or economic processes. For example, Barnes and Hayter's (1992) investigation of the Chemainus Mural near Vancouver, BC. In B.C., the Chemainus mural has been incorporated into the local tourism industry and was specifically designed with tourism--an external audience--in mind. In contrast to the planned murals of Chemainus, the strength and power of Northern Ireland murals lies in heir spontaneous nature and their inherently internal audience.
As many of the links below demonstrate, many--if not most--contemporary murals 'projects' are derived to overcome or deal with existing social problems. In some cases, murals are explicit efforts to eliminate the most authentic of people's art--everyday graffiti. In fact, many communities are implementing mural painting in an attempt to uncover the everyday and ordinary geographies of people as experienced by the people themselves and expressed through graffiti. Similarly,other mural projects are little more than contrived community building events coordinated by professional community development experts or downtown development authorities. A third type of mural project is emerging to 'channel the energies' of at-risk youth into community building activities opposed to gang activitiy. Finally, a new type collection of 'peace' murals are emerging to tackle global and local conflict. At the global scale, peace murals are intended to bring together middle east combatants. At the more local scale, mural painting has been a vehicle to explore the roots of school violence in America. Similarly, mural projects have been used to bring together different culture groups in a collaborative environment to promote understanding. While well intended, these projects are not people's art per se.
Despite these artificial and planned efforts, a growing community of artists and neighborhoods are embracing a more spontaneous--if not necessarily authentic--process of mural painting to commemorate and memorialize the 'Troubles' in our very own urban streets. Throughout New York and Los Angeles' disadvantaged communities, the art and politics of mural painting is taking hold. Like the murals displayed in this web site, spontaneous mural painting--like the more subversive graffiti--is beginning to challenge our local and global ideologies.
To explore more everyday geographies, visit the People's Geography Project. To learn more about the landscape approach in geography or familiarize yourself with key terms visit these related resources.
Links to Other Mural Sites
A Directory of Murals in
Northern Ireland by J. McCormick
Political Wall Murals in Northern
Ireland
Northern Ireland Photo
Gallery: Marches, Murals & Protests
Mural of
Peace-Milwaukee
Putting Art
in Its Place-San Jose
Project
Bridge Murals-Texas
Murals
Conservancy of Los Angeles
SPARC-Southern California
Submit a Related Geonote for GEOG130 (330)
GEOG130 (330) World Regional Geography--Course Homepage
Bibliographic
Materials
Contact the project directors
Deborah Keirsey or Jay Gatrell
Not:
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March 22, 2001