Travel: Europe: Northern Ireland

One of the first, and most shocking, things that confront visitors to Northern Ireland is the sizeable military presence. Walking down any main street one is bound to come across a foot patrol of young soldiers carrying high powered rifles and wearing full combat gear. This one was captured by a 200mm. Minolta lense in front of the Belfast Royal Courts.

Northern Ireland is a troubled place of great beauty. The capital, Belfast, is an industrial city whose working class neighbourhoods are divided by a corrugated steel wall called "The Peace Line". The Shankhill road area is the Protestant side and is home to most members of the Unionist parties. The Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain a part of Great Britain. On the other side of the wall is the Catholic area of Belfast, the Falls Road. The Catholic community tends to vote for the Nationalist parties, that is, parties who want Northern Ireland to be "returned" to the Republic of Ireland which itself only won independence from Great Britain in 1926. The City of Derry, formerly Londonderry, in the northwest of the province is a world apart from Belfast. It has the most complete medieval walls of any city in Europe, broken only in one spot where the British military has built an observation post. To the east of Derry is the famous Giant's Causeway and to the west are the mountains and lochs of Donegal in the Republic and beautiful sleepy villages such as Buncrana. In 1996, long before the first of several ceasefires by the paramilitaries, I travelled to Belfast and to Derry to see for myself what "the troubles" were all about. Here are some photographs I took which document a few of the murals and monuments of the politicised working class areas of Northern Ireland. To see the full size image, just click on the smaller one on this page. Robin Hamman, 21 Aug. 1998 - may there be lasting peace for tall he people of Omagh and the rest of Northern Ireland.

The Falls Road, Belfast, is a strongly Nationalist area. It runs parallel the Peace Wall. Just beyond the shop with car bomb barriers in front and wood over the windows to stop fire bombs, is a fantastic mural painted on the gable end of a terrace. Shot with a Minolta 3xi on Ilford b/w film and processed as colour.

In Derry, unlike in most of the province, the Unionists are in the minority. To the left is a mural of "King Billy" who saved the Protestants of Derry from the Seige of Derry. Several hundred Protestants inside the city walls were able to hold off their attackers until the rescue came, despite many months of starvation. Note the curb in the colours of the British Union Jack.   The image below is of a mural in Derry depicting the Loyalist / Unionist paramilitary groups.

Black and White photo of a mural depicting a Belfast batallian of the IRA, a Nationalist paramilitary group. Note the balaclave and armalite, their trademarks.

Throughout Derry there are a number of British Military observation towers. From here, commanders can direct their troops to trouble spots and keep a watchful eye on everything below.

The names of 40 dead IRA "Volunteers" from the Derry Brigade of the IRA. Those killed "in action" are given military style burials in a cemetary overlooking the city and not far up the hill from here.

Of course, the artist who created this mural of the military within these watchtowers feels they are intrusive. Note that each window depicts a different scene (left to right) the Free Derry wall, man peeled back to show that he's really just a robot, the whale hiding it's head under water, and the white hand shaking a black hand on the right.

In Northern Ireland, as elsewhere, political artwork immitates life. The image at the left is from a mural in Derry. The image on the right is what stands there today. On the right of the picture is the road where, on Sunday 30th of January 1972, a British Parachute regiment killed 14 civilians. The Bloody Sunday Memorial is depicted below.

Postscript: When I took the picture directly above (center), two local children who look similar to those in the mural stood in front of my camera laughing, waving, and asking me to take their photograph. I hope that their future, unlike the futures of so many of those depicted in these images, or the images in our minds of atrocities such as the Omagh bombing, will at least be one of peace.

All images and text copyright 1996-8 by Robin Hamman and are posted here for educational purposes only. You must have my express permission to copy or redistribute this page or it's contents in anyway. For details contact [email protected]

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