Murals are a striking feature of Northern Ireland’s urban landscape, which often showcase moments in the turbulent history of the region. Found across many towns and cities, especially Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, they frequently illustrate political, religious and historical themes which reflect the ideas of the communities around them.
Most commonly appearing on the gable ends of terraced houses, the tradition of mural painting goes back to the start of the twentieth century. While early murals almost exclusively reflected loyalist topics, republican murals are a more recent practice, which emerged at the height of The Troubles.
While these artworks clearly portray the political ideologies of both sides, they also serve as a record of their confidence, or lack thereof, in their current position, tracking changing loyalist and republican values and political standing over time.
Early murals
This mural showing King William III is painted on the oldest mural site in Belfast. First painted in 1934, it was retouched annually (sometimes completely repainted) in preparation for the 12 July Protestant marches.
The earliest murals in the province of Ulster celebrated traditional aspects of Protestant culture, most notably the victory of Protestant King William III's over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Typically the work of professional coach painters and artisans, the murals were painted in early July before the culmination of celebrations on 12 July and would be revisited every year by painters to keep them looking fresh.
The beginnings of republican mural painting
Mural entitled 'Blessed are those who hunger for justice' On Rockmount Street / the Falls Road, Belfast. Painted by local artist Con Mulholland c.1981, it shows the Virgin Mary looking down on a dying hunger striker.
In 1972, as a part of an agreement between the IRA and the British government to ceasefire, loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners were granted Special Category Status which afforded them treatment as political prisoners.
They were allowed to wear their own clothes, organise their own lives and were not confined to cells inside the Long Kesh Internment camp where they were held.
In 1976, The British Government revoked Special Category Status, effectively ‘criminalising’ anyone convicted of an act of ‘terrorism’ after 1 March 1976. At the same time the Long Kesh camp was rebuilt and renamed HMP Maze.
In response, republican prisoners at the Maze and Armagh Women’s Prison began a series of protests, which took a fatal turn in 1981 after prisoners began hunger strikes which culminated in ten prisoners starving themselves to death.
These events were politicised under the leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness of Sinn Fein, when it was suggested to them by Sinn Fein member, Jim Gibney, to put hunger striker Bobby Sands forward as the candidate for the vacant Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat in the Westminster by-election.
Sands's narrow victory, shortly before his death after 66 days of starvation, allowed Sinn Fein to move into the mainstream political sphere, galvanising republican sentiment.
In the wake of these events, republican murals began to appear. Many commemorated the hunger strikes, but others featured other struggles for Irish self-determination, both peaceful and armed. International revolutions, such as South Africa and Palestine, were also common themes, deemed by republicans as being on a par with their struggles.
Loyalism under siege?
The 1980s also saw an erosion of confidence among loyalists over Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, due to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of November 1985, which allowed the Government of the Republic of Ireland an advisory say in Northern Ireland’s affairs.
The move sparked violent protests from loyalists who perceived this agreement as the start of the slippery slope towards Irish unity.
Reflecting this shift, murals began to depict loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Red Hand Commando.
Echoing the rearmament of these groups on the streets, the threatening, overtly military imagery depicted in the murals also reflected loyalism’s age old cry of ‘No surrender’. They send an overt message that any attempts by the British or Irish government to threaten loyalism would be met with an armed response.
Moving towards a ceasefire
Mural in Percy Place, Lower Shankill, Belfast depicting the shield of C Company of the Ulster Defence Association.
At the Northern Ireland peace process, which saw both the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries declare ceasefires in 1994 and the Belfast Agreement of 1998, unfolded, loyalist murals began to feature flags and heraldry over human figures.
Fewer murals portrayed the loyalist figure head of King Billy, indicating an uncertainty among mural painters as to the position of the loyalist population in the UK.
While the numbers of loyalist murals displaying more peaceful themes increased in East Belfast and in the Shankill areas, in the 1990s, the overtly military murals of the 1980s nevertheless remained prominent.
These images served as a poignant threat to those on the republican side of the fence and a reminder that although the peace may hold, many within loyalism are still prepared to fight.
A mural at South Link, Andersonstown c.1988 entitled 'Beidh Ar La Limm' ('Our Day Will Come') showing a group of combatants armed with a rocket launcher, ArmaLite, light machine gun and a Drouge bomb.
Republican murals also adopted a different tone in the 1990s. Images of the IRA's armed struggle for self-determination which had featured prominently during the 1980s, appeared alongside murals which more overtly demanded that Britain leave Ireland.
British repression in the guise of the British Army was a common theme, as was perceived collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. The theme of anti-imperialist struggles from around the globe nevertheless prevailed.
Murals today
Despite the ceasefire of 1998, today’s mural painters, both loyalist and republican, still adopt the political themes which underpinned the Troubles as their subjects.
As works by political activists, the murals are changing and ephemeral, often painted over when a political point or campaign is won to be replaced with imagery supporting the next.
While mural painting appears to be a tradition that will continue in Northern Ireland, there are nevertheless questions as to whether more militantly messaged murals reflect the values of Northern Ireland’s culture today.
The republican tendency to place their plight in the context of international struggles for progress, has enabled them to create images which comment on contemporary issues, and the freedom wall on the Falls Road in west Belfast continues to depict international themes of ongoing global struggles alongside republican imagery. But tensions can arise when there are moves to paint over murals which glorify paramilitary fighters, particularly in loyalist areas.
The future that such visual expressions of politics will take is therefore unclear. Only time will tell if the current prevalence of paramilitary murals on the loyalist side remains an expression of the uncertainty of their position, or if the confident republican murals reflect a future they see as theirs.
