Communication is the Key- Art speaks louder than words.

Our first morning in Belfast, we took a bus tour of the city. It was practical because things are pretty spread out and Tommy, our driver, was great about making frequent stops so we could hop out and take photos. One of the first stops was to take in some of the famous murals that can be sound throughout the city. In fact, there are around 2000 murals throughout Northern Ireland. 

If you find this kind of stuff boring....skip this post, but if you want to try to understand the struggle...I will make it as short and entertaining as possible....and in that case...read on. 

Recall that "The Troubles" lasted between the 1960's and 1998...so the resolution came while the students were...toddlers....so of course it is not something that any of our students remember, even though parents should...even if vaguely. Most of the parents would have been in middle or high school when this period was coming to a close. Bill Clinton was our President at the time, so get your time frame from that period of time.

Why were they fighting anyway?

The nation...or essentially the island called Ireland...became divided between the 'Nationalist Catholics" who wanted the island to be ONE NATION and most of the people were Catholic. (Up until that time in the Belfast area, Catholics had been discriminated against with jobs...so keep that in mind)

The other group was the Unionist Protestants, and unionist had nothing to do with unions as we know them, but rather, Unionist in respect to the United Kingom..which was pretty much Protestant, or Church of England. 

It is no wonder that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was bombing in London and other places throughout the UK. (Those who traveled to London will remember that we could not find trash cans on the streets even two years ago....this is due to those bombings)

YEA FOR GOOD FRIDAY - It is special to Christians, but special in another way to the 'people of the island'

Bill Clinton evidently worked diligently on this time bomb issue. Remember that even though we won back in 1776....the Brits have always been our friends, and this struggle definitely involved the UK. (Great Britain)

The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998 and pretty much settled the fact that a state called Northern Ireland would be a part of the United Kingdom and Protestant/Church of England but the entire rest of the island would become a separate nation called Ireland.

Good thing President Clinton was a good mediator here or this mess could still be going on....and the Middle East mess is enough for the world right now!

Money is important too..........this is why we used Pound Sterling in Belfast and the Euro in Dublin...and we would have in the rest of Ireland as well.

The walls of murals you have seen so far are right on the street. People pass them every day. Most of them were painted during the time of "the Troubles' and they fall into about three main categories. (1) those promoting the Nationalist-Catholic perspective (2) those promoting the Unionist-Protestant perspective and (3) those making social statements.

More than anything, people just wanted their opinions to be heard.....there goes that lack of communication thing again......

all I can say is

THANK GOODNESS FOR ARTISTS!

as they say....one picture is worth a thousand words!

I will try to explain some of the murals. We took photos of so many and I tell you, I love this stuff and was prepared for what we were to see, and I was overwhelmed. It was hard to take it all in. I can only guess that the students must have thought our tour guide was speaking Chinese....and I would be surprised if they really absorbed it all.

Also...this was pretty heavy stuff before lunch...even though we started our day with a GREAT breakfast...we even had BACON! (Canadian)

Back to the murals.....

You might guess that this was Unionist....the Union Flag might have been a clue.

Check out the barbed wire. This was painted on part of the 'Peace Wall' that divided the neighborhoods. Actually most of the murals are in the neighborhood areas rather than the business areas. 

This is one of my favorites because it is not only based upon Picasso's "Guernica" in style, but because artists from both sides of the conflict painted it.

Recognize the reference to Margaret Thatcher? Could this be from the Nationalist persuasion? Remember that Irish Catholics did not want to have a state religion (Church of England)

Social Statement.
Notice how the peace wall turns and then goes on some more. It went around neighborhoods, however they might have been laid out.

This is possibly written in Gaelic and has something to do with athletics. 

What....Talk radio?!  

Another social statement urging mutual respect for one another.

I thought it interesting that this is a much newer mural. 

This is a newer mural as well. Since their 'troubles' are past, creating murals is still a passion, but there are more social statements being posted. 

Many many of the murals are painted on the gable ends of homes and townhomes in the tennement areas.

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I thought this one was interesting as well because the main character is painted on the corner of the building, adding a different dimensional effect.  Do you see the Celtic knots in the design?

The things we can learn from the murals is that they have given a sense of identity to the residents of the different areas of town. The murals seem to give the residents a way to bond, and provide a sense of brotherhood and togetherness.

There are many murals that are just decorative and add color to the somewhat depressed areas...similar to what we see with graffiti in the big cities.  (the artists see graffiti as injecting color and belonging to an area, while the city officials see it as vandalism...certainly a place where communication is needed, right?)

If you ever go to Belfast, I hope you will check out this link first....http://www.belfast-murals.co.uk/     I would encourage you to study the map and check out the different kinds of murals. Most of our photos had reflections because we were taking them from inside the bus, so I did not get to show much variety....though I bet you saw enough! On the link, you can click on a marker and see many more of the murals....so history buffs...enjoy!

Thought for the day.....oh, just communicate. Listen more than you talk...and make an effort to understand, even if you don't. Try to walk a mile in another person's shoes.
I am talking to myself too!

Blessings!