Celtic Tidings: Mural Tour

I will start off saying I will be breaking the last few days into several posts, because I think too much has happened to really be put into one post. Also, the murals and my birthday don't have anything in common so therefore two posts seems more appropriate.

On Friday, I attended a tour of some of the murals hosted by the WAVE Trauma Centre where David works. Kathryn, Anna, David, and I wanted to learn more about the murals and thought it would be a good opportunity to do so.

We started off with the Shankill Peace Line, however before we even began our tour, the guide said he didn't like to call them Peace Lines because he believes that the walls do not create peace so instead he calls them Interface Lines. I thought he had a really good point and thought that interface was a better word to use rather than peace.

The Shankill interface line is the longest in the city and if I am remembering correctly it is the longest standing divisive wall in Europe currently. It is really powerful to look at wall but it is also an incredibly hard concept for me to try and wrap my head around.

It has also been built up higher over the years, rather than being taken down. Apparently it wasn't high enough and has more additions to keep people from lobbing dangerous objects over to the other side. Also, it has now been covered with different graffiti art and tourists have now claimed it as a spot to sign their name.

For me, it was hard to look and see people's signatures even if it said something about creating peace because I just didn't see the point in it.

Someone asked about our guide about how the wall has become seen as a place for artistic creativity and he said that creating art on it doesn't help it to be brought down. By putting art on the wall it only adds to its permanence. Which, I hadn't thought about before but believe it makes sense. When big displays of art are on the wall... it makes it harder to be torn down because people start to look at it as an artful display when it really remains a barrier.

There is also something to be said in that the walls have become a tourist attraction. This is something I think is hard for me because I do feel like a tourist going to see the different murals but I wouldn't make them a destination on a vacation. I want to go to see them to learn more about this city's history, not to write my name in sharpie and write some profound quote. Me writing my name on the wall doesn't do any good or help me understand why the walls are there in the first place.

After the Shankill wall (it is in a Protestant neighborhood) we went to see some of the murals on the Catholic side. Our guide made an interesting comment in that most of the Loyalist murals are facing outwards and are used as a means to intimidate and announce their territory. Whereas Republican murals are usually within the community and only those in the community are able to see them.

(Also, please note the terms Catholic and Protestant are not the best terms to use, however it is hard to describe the different political groups here. The conflicts here are more about politics and nationality than religion. So I use the terms loosely and hope to have a post to guide you through the politics here.)

On the walls we saw, the paintings had been chosen by the community commemorating certain times in history and/or people. Our guide said that they had also tried to internationalize the conflict here and painted scenes to commemorate similar conflicts in other countries, such as Palestine and Cuba.

These murals were much more detailed and obviously well thought out in what they wanted to put on the wall. I think I would have understood more had I had some background knowledge. For instance there were a lot about Marian Price and I didn't catch much of what our guide was saying about those.

I feel lost sometimes in all the history and historical references and really want to learn more about it all so I can gain a better grasp on it all. However, I don't think even after living here a year, that I will be able to truly understand. Especially when some local people I've talked to say they don't even quite understand the conflicts.

Next we went to a visual art piece installed called Ambulatorio Belfast. I encourage to read the information on the website that I have provided the link for because it explains it better than I can.

I will say I found it very moving and was blown away at the concept and what it was supposed to represent.