Browse Exhibits (1 total)

Museums preserve the past, promoting it into the public sphere.  In the processes of collecting, conserving, and exhibiting, museums make choices concerning their collections.  These decisions often reflect the complex pressures that revolve around an exhibits ability to define identities for people and communities.  In Northern Ireland, culture, heritage, politics, and religion are intertwined.  As Northern Ireland moves forward following the Belfast Agreement of 1998, curatorial decisions will affect the North Irish national identity.  Of primary importance in my research is the collection and exhibition of conflict related items.  The artifacts of the Troubles have the powerful ability to resonate with the people of Northern Ireland.  The conflict related items inspire reflection upon the Troubles, and the Northern Irish identity.

Ireland and Northern Ireland are still forming their national identities.  Ireland as it stands today was officially divided by the Government of Ireland act of 1920. Following the 1916 uprising, the Irish War of Independence was waged from 1919-1921.  As a result of post-ceasefire talks, the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed in 1921.  Twenty-six southern Irish counties seceded from the United Kingdom, forming the Republic of Ireland.   Six northern counties, remained a part of the British Empire, and were given their own parliament.  Those six northernmost counties: Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Derry, Armagh, and Tyrone, formed Northern Ireland.  Ireland became increasingly Gaeltacht, or Irish speaking.  It was also predominately Catholic.  Northern Ireland remained to a greater degree English speaking and Protestant (Hollis, 2001).

It is not the case that the all Protestants were loyal to Britain, or that all Catholics favored seceding from the United Kingdom.  To draw the lines too neatly would be an error in envisioning Irish past.  Perhaps more central to the issue was not religion, but that some Irish were Unionists and wanted to remain part of the UK, supporting Partition of Ireland.  While some Irish were Republicans, wanting all of Ireland to be a separate independent republic, opposing partition of the Irish peoples. Tensions between groups simmered eventually leading to the events of Bloody Sunday 1972, in which British troops killed unarmed civil rights protestors in Derry.  The period from the 1960s up until the Good Friday Agreement is known in Irish memory as The Troubles (Hollis, 2001).   

The Troubles was characterized by sectarian violence that was not limited to Northern Ireland, and traveled outside its borders to Ireland and Britain. The Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998 created a ceasefire between Republicans, Unionists, and the British Government.  The past century has seen many changes for Ireland and Northern Ireland, changes that must be reflected upon in collective identity (Hollis 2001).  This exhibit Murals of Conflict, Patterns of Peace contains examples of public art in Northern Ireland.  In specific, this exhibit addresses the use of political murals to shape the communities of Northern Ireland.  It is important to note that these murals are not intended for outsiders, tourists, or media; These murals are directed inward, toward the epicenter of the community – the North Irish identity (Vaugn 2012).