Hello
Thank-you for your question about political murals.
THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS
You'll find information about the Bogside Artists on the University of
Ulster's "Conflict Archive on the INternet (CAIN) site. The artists
introduce themselves like this:
"Three individuals make up the group known as 'The Bogside Artists' -
Tom Kelly, Kevin Masson and William Kelly. William’s son Paul takes
care of video and documentation. The group is famous for their murals
in the area of Derry, Northern Ireland, known as Free Derry Corner.
These murals depict key events of 'the Troubles' in the city since
1968. The artists have lived in the Bogside most of their lives and
have experienced the worst of the conflict."
They hope that their work will have meaning over and above a simple
record of events.
"The artists are pledged to continue to express [a] spiritual
dimension on the gable walls of the Bogside. Although they are aware
of the parochial nature of the images, they also understand the
universal aspect of the conflict. What has happened in Northern
Ireland and what has been experienced by the people of Derry is by no
means peculiar to either Derry or Northern Ireland."
Bogside Artists introduction
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/menu.htm
There is more about the serious philosophy which underpins their work
on another page:
"Tom...has been painting murals since long before 1969 seeing in art a
means by which Protestants and Catholics can come together."
"Their work is commemorative and in being so it is also curative."
There's also information on their best known murals, 'Bloody sunday'
and the 'Battle of the Bogside':
The artists' ideas
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/artists.htm
You can find pictures of their murals here:
Bogside Artists: murals
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/murals.htm
And if you click on these small pictures you'll find larger photos of
some murals and more information:
Bogside Artists: thumbnail images
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/images.htm
Page for ordering their book and prints
http://www.bogsideartists.com/
You can read an interview with them extracted from:
Murals: The Bogside Artists, by William Kelly. Guildhall Press (2001)
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/publications/books/murals01.htm
OTHER MURALS IN NORTHERN IRELAND
You might be interested in an essay by Neil Jarman in which he writes
about "how, as objects rather than as images, murals have been, and
continue to be used, as part of the political process, in the widest
sense."
Painting Landscapes: The Place of Murals in the Symbolic Construction
of Urban Space, by Neil Jarman
taken from:
Symbols in Northern Ireland, edited by Anthony Buckley. Institute of
Irish Studies (1998)
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/jarman.htm#chap5
There's material on the history of Northern Irish mural painting,
extracted from:
Murals of War and Peace,by Bill Rolston. Beyond the Pale Publications
(1995)
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdb
A directory of 1245 murals including descriptions and approx. 200
small photographs can be found at:
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/intro.htm
And links to many other murals, both Loyalist and Republican:
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/rolston.htm
A Dutch perspective on Northern Ireland's political murals:
http://www.rnw.nl/society/html/murals000519.html
POLITICAL MURALS ELSEWHERE
Nicaragua
http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/murals/political/16.html
Description of a book about the Sandinista murals:
The Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua, 1979-1992, by David Kunzle.
University of California Press (1995)
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/6171.html
Chile
http://www.graffiti.org/santiago/brp.html
Palestine
Mural for Palestinian women:
http://www.amanjordan.org/english/daily_news/wmview.php?ArtID=39
Murals to replace graffiti:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/summary/1997/topics4.html
South Africa
Article explaining that "The almost sudden emergence and tremendous
flourishing of urban community mural art in South Africa during the
early 1990s is closely associated with the country's gradual process
of socio-political liberation.":
Negotiating Identity: Urban Community Mural Art in South Africa, by
Sabine Marschall
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:g4sySJwNL78C:www.ijele.com/ijele/vol2.1/marschall.pdf+political+mural+OR+%22wall+art%22+%22south+africa%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
(Or if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer at:
http://www.ijele.com/ijele/vol2.1/marschall.pdf. )
Thanks for asking such an interesting question. I had no idea so many
of the murals were recorded on the net.
I hope you'll find this answer helpful but please let me know if you'd
like me to clarify anything, or if you have trouble with any of the
links.
Regards - Leli
searches used:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ulster+OR+%22northern+ireland%22+murals+OR+%22wall+art%22&btnG=Google+Search
political mural "wall art" + names of countries |
