Author: Pamela Haas

 

          The Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Constitution of Ireland that followed restricted the rights and freedom of the Irish people while they simultaneously attempted to reconcile the abuse the country had endured in its long history of conflict and uncertain ruling. These documents established physical and figurative borders and boundaries within the country of Ireland in a paradoxical effort to both separate and unify the people. When the contents of their new governing document, the Constitution of Ireland, were made public, the Irish population would recognize the potential for a similar kind of national instability that had already been encountered in the Anglo-Irish Treaty sixteen years previous to the formation of the Constitution.

Much of the Anglo-Irish Treaty indicates a desire for a smooth transition away from British interference in Ireland, while at the same time, measures were taken to ensure Ireland was not completely free from British presence. The British successfully managed to maintain connections with Ireland while they also established a boundary of separation between them and the people of Ireland. In 1937, sixteen years after the enactment of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Constitution of Ireland was created. The document established the rights and laws of the people of the Republic of Ireland. The Constitution attempted to claim from its beginning that “The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland,” before an amendment was made decades later to delete this particular passage. The Constitution of Ireland was meant to unify and celebrate the people of Ireland, but instead, it tried to control them and the (legally separate) nation of Northern Ireland and perpetuated national instability.

Both the Treaty and the Constitution failed in their goals of easing the tensions within the country. While the new legislation may have been met with some success, it also caused new issues and questions that would be scrutinized and spoken out against for the coming decades. Ireland was marked by many centuries of struggle for survival and proved its incredible capacity to endure long years of suffering, so it may have grown used to unstable grounds and little victories won over bit by bit. Ireland had a great task to take on once Great Britain withdrew much of its political hold with the enactment of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and Ireland got off to a shaky start. From the beginning, the Republic of Ireland was faced with the majority of its population’s desire to unify the island of Ireland, but it was also presented with the problem of what it should do with Northern Ireland, and more importantly, what it could do. Unfortunately, the Treaty and the Constitution proved incapable of resolving Ireland’s history of conflict and disunity at their creation, and instead successfully caused a great deal of upheaval and unrest in the country. Many Irish citizens may have been in support of keeping the island together for the geographical sense it made, but borders and boundaries are hardly ever tied up so neatly. Certainly, the borders separating Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland seem almost arbitrarily drawn, however, those very same borders were the source of a great deal of conflict within Ireland, as well were the wider borders between Ireland and Great Britain. The disruption caused by the conflict of how to separate groups of people still survives today, and is memorialized within the invisible boundaries drawn between the different nations.

Introduction

Derry has an air about it of hard-won peace and respectful solemnity. The Bogside Artists may have contributed to the atmosphere of the city, or the art they created may reflect the sentiments of the people. Either way, the product of the politically-charged atmosphere is a great deal of politically-charged art and graffiti throughout the city of Derry. The Bogside Artists made a tremendous effort to overcome the pain of the troubles in Northern Ireland and the attempts of many to keep the tensions alive, while still commemorating those who were lost. The artists and their murals live on to this day, as well does a new tradition of political awareness demonstrated and passed along through official and unofficial artwork.

To navigate the art and graffiti of Derry, follow these links:

Bogside Art

Over the Bridge

Collected Graffiti

Works Cited

Cashman, Ray. “Visions of Irish Nationalism.” Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology 45.3 (2008): 361-81. Web.

Joseph, Anthony C. The People’s Gallery: The Bogside Artists. 2001. Print.

 

Graffiti is so often overlooked because it lacks the refinement that is usually more present in sanctioned art. Nevertheless, graffiti is often just as politically charged as the murals it is painted next to. While exploring Derry, I discovered the city had perhaps just as much graffiti in it as any other city, but the vandalism and messages I came across had about it an unusually high percentage of political awareness and appeals for activism. Usually, graffiti is a quick tag of the graffiti artist’s name or pseudonym, but in Derry, much of the graffiti was composed of the IRA’s letters, calls for social justice, and messages lashing out at particular groups.

         

             

 

What does it all mean?

Street art is a representation of the people who live within the streets, and it reflects the zeitgeist of the community. To see how closely tied together art and the sentiments of the people of Derry are, one need only walk through the streets and observe the murals and graffiti that cover it. In an analysis of Irish nationalism, Ray Cashman explains that “Decoding this urban visual scene, punctuated and anchored by murals, benefits from local knowledge and an appreciation of visual semiotics,” (Cashman). The pain and suffering Derry endured for decades is memorialized through the art painted into it, and that art contributes to a sense of responsibility in the people who walk the city’s streets to respect its history and to be proactive in the present to keep history from repeating itself.

        

The Dark Side of Art

 

Upon crossing the bridge into the Protestant section of Derry, one would come across more murals, but of a very different nature than those created by the Bogside Artists. The artwork in this section of Derry is filled with British propaganda, and for many Irish Catholics, it is representative of many long years the they endured in conflict with the Protestants. While walking through the neighborhood, I could not imagine why this frankly terrifying atmosphere broadcasted by the artwork and decoration was allowed to last. Many of the murals have fallen into disrepair since their creation, so no one was making any effort to restore them in the same way the Bogside Artists continue to restore their murals on the Bogside.

 

     

 

The murals in this neighborhood are comparable to the work of the Bogside Artists in that they, too, serves as a reminder of the hard times in Northern Ireland. These murals, however, lack the air of respect and solemnity the Bogside Artists worked so painstakingly in their own art to achieve. The art over the bridge in this section of Derry recall the violence and polarization the troubles wrought without reconciling with them.

Bogside Art

On their Own Steam

“Artistic images bear witness to the inner journey and their quality determines the effectiveness of their testimony” (Joseph). Tom Kelly mentioned during the tour that the Bogside Artists did not want their artwork to be about itself, but about the messages they were meant to convey. That being said, Tom Kelly, Kevin Hasson, and William Kelly were no beginners, and the murals they created successfully draw in the eye long enough to comprehend the message, if the sheer scale of the murals were not already sufficient. Plenty of other murals are present throughout Derry, but the Bogside Artists also succeeded in creating a style that was uniquely theirs, which had the effect of keeping the intended themes their artwork presented consistent for its ability to be immediately recognized.

                      

 

 

A Call for Peace

The work of the Bogside Artists came out of the conflicts the artists lived through and eventually evolved to reflect a desire for peace and reconciliation. Tom Kelly explained that the color schemes of the murals reflect where in memory they are meant to belong. The murals that memorialize conflict and suffering have a tendency towards being more monochromatic, and this serves the purpose of remembering the suffering that happened, but keeping it in the past. The famous Peace mural is the most vibrant of the murals, and it reflected the artists’ belief that at the creation of this mural, it was finally time for the community to move toward peace and acceptance.