Meeting Spaces

Nina and I just returned to Derry from our last day at Belfast Exposed. Today we continued working on organizing reviews and publications about the gallery. In finding different types of information about most of shows in the past 5 years, one exhibitions, Archive_Belfast, really stuck out to me This show focused on life in Belfast and supported part of the mission of Belfast Exposed: to produce and exhibit photography relating to Northern Ireland and capturing the history of the Troubles. Unfortunately, there is not a record of the actual photographs in these exhibitions, which I would be very interested to see the full content of the show. There are some images on the Belfast Exposed website and brief statements about the shows which help to give an understanding of the projects.

Archive_Belfast was a show that concentrated on the spaces in Belfast which allowed the creation and perpetuation of conflict. It does not touch on the actual events of conflict, but instead shows where conflict developed and the reasons behind the violence. I think that this is a very innovative approach to studying the conflict because the hatred had to start somewhere. Most people concentrate on the events and constant violence as continuing the struggle, but without individual spaces the violence could not have been able to organized or carried out.

This makes me wonder about the communication within paramilitary groups. I know that members of the IRA were not allowed to meet more than a couple other members in order to protect the secrecy and leadership of the organization. How, then, were attacks organized? I am curious about the space that leaders of the IRA met in to organize their plans and strategies. It could not be publically announced or even mentioned in public because of the IRA’s position as a terrorist group and their constant hunting by the RUC and the opposing paramilitary groups, the UVF and UDA.

In researching the organization of the IRA I found that it is lead by the General Army convention which meets only once every two years. On a dat-to-day basis the IRA is run by a seven person Army Council with people from different areas of Ireland. But, during the height of the Troubles, things must have been run differently. Where did local members meet to make their plans without being discovered? I imagine that it would have been very difficult to find a secure place when the RUC, UVF and UDA were constantly trying to find them. They must have had a well planned out method of organizing operations and then delegating people to carry them out.

As a group in Northern Ireland, we have heard about the paramilitary groups, but we never really have learned about their individual strategies or organization. It was more about learning they key players in the conflict. Looking through some of the Archive_Belfast information made me start to think about what went on behind closed doors. Today there are still an estimation of about 200 active IRA members in Northern Ireland. How are their meeting spaces different than thirty years ago during the height of the conflict?

Just another day at Belfast Exposed

On Tuesday, after Nina and I figured out that we couldn’t really help with the deinstallation if the show, we asked Pauline if she had any other projects for us to work on. She enthusiastically introduced us to three boxes of old reviews and advertisements for the gallery. They were jumbled and in need to be categorized by exhibition. Previously, someone working in the office had organized the exhibition reviews into a scrapbook, showing the accomplishments and press coverage of the shows at Belfast Exposed. Nina and I were to look through old newspapers and magazines that had been saved to find the snippets that mentioned Belfast Exposed to then be added to new scrapbooks. The information that we had only dated back to 2005, but even for only three years there have been many exhibition reviews and general information published in local media.


When we came across full newspapers we had to look through the entire publication in order to find a small advertisement for Belfast Exposed. I found myself stopping at almost every page because of the eye catching headlines that read something like “Loyalist rules out arms move after Real IRA threat”, “The hole truth about 1916". The one that particularly caught my eye was entitled “Cannot trust disbandment” and was supported by a photo of machine guns and a label saying “terrorist weapons”. This article stated that Justice Minister of the time, Michael McDowell, did not believe that the IRA had given up their weapons even though they were decommissioned, but there really was no way to know for sure. The IRA should still be considered a threat to the community. He went on to deny that Sinn Fein, the political party of the IRA, was a legitimate and legal part of the government. These topics are directly related to the information we have been learning about for the past three weeks and still remain controversial.

In the next paper I looked in, The News Letter from Monday, August 29, 2005, I found a full page article about an Indian cultural festival in the botanic gardens in Belfast. On the opposite page was a huge headline “IRA members will end up in police-ford” talking about the concerns that the community had about allowing IRA members into the police force. This was a bit shocking to me to find these stories right next to each other because it made the happenings of the IRA, a known paramilitary group, seem like ordinary news. This festival was a celebration of the Indian community in Northern Ireland and I guess that I just assumed it would be separated from the intense political news stories. This also shows that news about paramilitaries are very common in the daily news. After thirty years of violence, these types of stories may be old hat, but that it was placed next to a fun and celebratory story made the other stories of violence, murder, terrorism, etc. seem just as if they were on common and expected.

This was a feeling that I have gotten from talking to many people while in Northern Ireland. On a taxi ride into Belfast my driver commented on the small gypsy population that lives in trailers on the outskirts of the city. He told a very interesting story going something like this: He and an old girlfriend were out at a bar during the height of the troubles. On the way home they walked right into the midst of some IRA members hijacking a bus and bombing it. There was open fire and explosions in the street, so the taxi driver and his girlfriend ducked behind a car to avoid the crossfire. In the midst of this outbreak, the gypsies came out to rummage though the bus parts. I agree that it was crazy for the gypsies to run into the middle of fighting for bus parts, but the driver told the story as if getting trapped in gunfire was something like that happened everyday. I cannot imagine becoming so used to that kind of violence that I could talk about it as a normal and frequent experience.

A writer who lectured the Bucknell in Northern Ireland group this week, Arthur Higgins told us of his travel to Florida a few years back. He said that him and a friend wanted to go to the Virgin Records Megastore in Miami. There were not able to enter the store because a car had been blown up in front of the entrance. He told his friend that it was not a big deal and they would simply have to wait 45 minutes before they could enter the store. In the US, an occurrence like that would take much longer to clear up and have a huge effect on the public, but because he was so used to these kinds of things happening that he was able to downplay the significance of it. Later in that trip, he and a friend wanted to take a hike so he said that they were going to hike a mountain. This mountain turned out to be much more like a small hill, but it was so much easier for him to exaggerate the size of a mountain than accept the significance of a car bomb. This shows that the people of Northern Ireland are so accustomed to bombs and violence that they do not want to accept them as important and terrifying.

Everyone that I have met here who has talked about their involvement in the conflict, portrays the events as ordinary and insignificant, even though most of the time the things they have experienced were scary and dangerous. The location and frequency of conflict related stories in the newspapers, personal accounts of run ins with violence and the inability for people in general to accept the magnitude of this violence seems to be just a part of living in Northern Ireland. I feel that living through these kinds of experiences would force one to downplay their importance just in order to accept that those kinds of things actually happened.

Photograpghy vs. Video

Once again, Nina and I ventured to Belfast Exposed via the Ulsterbus today. We have managed to learn our way around Belfast, which I guess is a factor of coming here four times a week for both our placement at Belfast exposed and group excursions.

When we arrived at the gallery we were immersed into the confusion and hustle of taking down the immigration video exhibition. In order to pack up the show, all of the TVs, DVD players, projectors, speakers and screens needed to be taken down, wrapped in bubble paper and then packaged to be shipped back to their respective owners. There was a woman named Debra, who I don’t think works for Belfast Exposed, who was attempting to explain their specific process to us, but unfortunately, she kept talking in circles and contradicting herself. After her fragmented and rather mumbled explanation, we were confused and really had no idea what we needed to do, so we asked for specific jobs. Our first task was to unscrew the backs of the speakers and place them in their boxes. Turns out a screwdriver or wrench is needed in order to do detach the speakers, neither of which were available to us. This left us pretty helpless in the matter and also feeling awkwardly in the way in the small gallery space. This kind of process went on for about an hour when Nina and I decided that we should find another project that would actually be useful and of more interest to us.

I, personally, was very excited about helping to remove the exhibition and help set up for the next one. My senior year in highs chool I worked in a small art gallery in Albany, NY called the Upstate Artist Guild. There I helped deinstall and reinstall shows, so I have a general idea of what is needed in order to set up and take down shows. At the UAG, the process was much more smooth and organized and I remember it being a lot of fun because everyone worked together and chatted while accomplishing the work. I enjoyed being able to actually handle the artwork and having the responsibility of protecting it. For this exhibition though, the artwork was shown through televisions and projectors, so we weren’t handling the actual art. It was more of a matter of making sure the equipment didn’t get damaged or broken, which is not as exciting in my opinion.

This could be something to say about the direction in which art is going today. There are much larger amounts of multi-media and new media projects surfacing in the most renowned galleries and museums. In the past art simply consisted of paint on canvas. Then slowly as new technology was discovered art forms like photography came into play. For a long time though, photography was not considered a true art form because it simply captured a moment that already existed and did not require much artistic talent. Now however, there are many ways that photographs can be manipulated to create different images. There are variations in shutter speed, lighting, focus, etc. that can be very precisely measured to create the exact image the artist wants. These elements have brought photography to the forefront of art today and have helped to establish it as a true art form. Now that even more technology has developed, there are more opportunities for the development of new media arts, including film.

The current show at Belfast Exposed is a video project exploring Immigration,

as you have probably already read a bit about. Film has been around for a while in mainstream culture, but has very recently made its way into the fine arts category. Maybe I am feeling the same way as those who were around at the time of emersion of photography into the arts and am limiting myself, but I feel that film is less of an artistic form and more a part of mainstream culture. I know that at least in relation to the Immigration video exhibit I find it hard to sit and pay attention to a long video. I would rather see an image, whether it be a photograph, painting, print or whatever and be able to find my own meaning and interpretations within the work. I feel that video art presents a much more obvious position and it is much harder for the viewer to find their own understanding of the message, they are simply being told information. In my opinion, film holds great importance in documentation and the passing on of information, but does not really create anything new.

This video exhibition is different than most shows at Belfast Exposed, a traditionally photographic organization. Sara, the gallery administrator and whom I have talked about in previous blogs, did not particularly like this show because of the questionable content and the constant noise being produced. She said that the sound was distracting because the numerous videos carried over each other making it hard to decipher each film as an individual. That could be the point of the exhibition; to show the overlap of different ideas in life, and more than just in the gallery space.

The introduction of this new medium into Belfast Exposed could also be an attempt to bring the gallery into the contemporary art world. However, I feel that as a photo archive and photo gallery that video exhibitions just don’t fit. This is reflected in the much smaller amount of visitors to the gallery. I think that Belfast Exposed can remain successful without giving into new art forms.

Innocence in Northern Ireland

On Friday the entire Bucknell in Northern Ireland group traveled to Belfast to hear a lecture from Chris Gilligan from Aston University. He talked about the way in which children are used in the conflict to show innocence and vulnerability and can also bring a sense of hope. Many children have been photographed throughout the troubles in order to evoke emotions from viewers. All of the photographs Chris Gilligan used in his talk were from the archive at Belfast Exposed.

His main point was that children can evoke stronger emotions of innocence, vulnerability and hope than adults. In photographs that show older people striving for peace there are always other symbols, like a white dove for example, that help to portray the same feelings. Children are a symbol of peace in themselves and were used in that way in photographs taken during the troubles. The sight of children placed in the middle of conflict is much stronger than any other image. It is much more effective to show people who are unable to care for or protect themselves as victims in conflict. Outsiders have much stronger negative feelings towards the “enemy” inflicting oppression onto the children pictured.

A photo that Chris Gilligan kept returning to was a photograph of a young boy standing in front of a line of British army trucks and a British soldier. The child looks confused and scared of what is going on. This photo was used very effectively to show the British army intruding on the Nationalist community. However, Chris Gilligan then showed the same picture taken from a different angle. This time, the child, still looking bewildered, is looking at the camera with at least six photographers laying on the ground beside him. The menacing British army trucks are still in the background, but the feeling of the photo is completely changed. The photographers were purposefully finding the most expressive angle from which to take the picture. When I think about photographs I see them as one moment captured on film. For this scene though, there are at least two completely different meanings that can be attached to this one moment just by the angle from which the photo was taken. The situation is completely exaggerated and it is obvious that the scene was staged for the sole purpose of showing the British army as invaders of this child’s space.

This use and manipulation of children was used on both sides. The photo of the child in front of British trucks is very much Catholic Republican but Chris Gilligan also used a photo of a young boy dressed in Orange Order apparel which is obviously Protestant Loyalist. It is unfortunate that adults must use their children in order to evoke reactions from outsiders. This puts the child in the middle of conflict when they have no control over their situations.

This made me think about all of the ways in which things can be manipulated by the way they are shown to the public. How many of the pictures that I see everyday represent reality? There really is no way to tell without being present at the time when the photo was taken. The responsibility of photojournalists is to find images that support the story they are working on, and sometimes that photo can be taken under a completely different situation. This also leads into propaganda images. There are so many images that support one side of a problem or event and it is quite possible that a large number of these photos are taken under completely different circumstances. If the public knew the setting of the original photograph it would not be so effective in promoting one side of an issue? So does that mean that media can simply create meanings out of irrelevant situations?

Throughout history there is evidence of media has altered information in order to present one specific side of an issue, for example in 2006 the media altered the number of civilian deaths in Iraq. The number was said to be much smaller than it actually was in order suppress the American knowledge of the severity of the war. I think that it is important for the public to be aware of the real side of the story, both with information and photographs, but, unfortunately, there is no way to promise the integrity of the media by any means. I don’t see this situation changing anytime in the near future and I also have no suggestions on how it could be accomplished.

Anyways, back to Northern Ireland, I hope that the children who were used for propaganda purposes are not affected by their misrepresentation in these photographs later in life.

Some more accounts at Belfast Exposed

I am now two thirds of the way through my placement at Belfast Exposed and I feel that my time there is much more worthwhile. Today Nina and I finished up our research for Pauline’s upcoming talk on restrictions of artist visas in the UK and United States. Like the issues of deportation, I know little about the ability to acquire an artist visa, making this another time for me to learn some about immigration issues. Even temporary visas for artist have become much harder to obtain.

In May 2002 President Bush signed a bill called Enhanced Border Security and Reform Act which targets travelers born in seven countries (Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea, Iran and Syria) that sponsor terrorism, even if the travelers are not even citizens of those seven countries. Bush has also created another list of suspect countries including Pakistan Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. These countries are typically Muslim, making a statement that anyone of Muslim decent should be suspect of terrorism. Any person from or having relations with these countries have been facing extremely unpleasant experiences when trying to enter the US. These strict restrictions have proved to limit the amount of foreign artists, performers, musicians, etc. by 13%, creating a limit to cultural diversity when it is needed most. I think that it is a shame that foreign artists are being discouraged from coming to the United States simply because of their background. By not allowing people from other cultures to come into the US it is much harder to help people understand that there are people from Muslim decent who are not threats and wish to speak out about their opposition. I think that people in the US have a general negative feeling about people from anywhere the Middle East and that limiting the kinds of people who are allowed entry to the US will just perpetuate these feelings established by the Bush administration.

While researching the issues of immigration, deportation and visa restrictions, the most common opinion I found was that President Bush is not liked, in fact very much disliked, and is not respected at all by citizens of other countries. When he to visited Northern Ireland in 2003, there was a huge amount of objection by the people of Northern Ireland. In Derry, a crowd of 150 protesters had to be removed from the streets to allow traffic to enter the city center. There have been protests opposing the war in Iraq throughout Europe. An anti-war protest in Rome in 2003 has been added to the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest protest in history, with 3 million participants. This huge amount of anti-war support shows the general strong feelings of discontent with American political policies in the past eight years.


Specifically in Norther Ireland, the Nationalists have brought American politics, as well as other foreign problems, into their murals. On a tour of the Falls Road, a very Nationalist community in Belfast, we walked by a long wall dedicated only to international and foreign problems. On this wall, there are
The second week of our trip is almost over. Can you believe it?two murals which specifically criticize President Bush. My personal favorite is the one which depicts Bush sucking oil from Iraq through a straw and placing bills of money into his pocket, underlined with the statement “America’s Greatest Failure.” The American flag remains on the rubble that represents Iraq with a line from the Star Spangled Banner “And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there.” I don’t know of a more literal way to present the idea of Bush’s economic interest in the War in Iraq than this mural shows.


After talking to people here in Northern Ireland, I have found that everyone understands that Bush’s politics and beliefs do not represent the majority of Americans beliefs now. I have met a lot of people since I have been here, and quite often the conversation often turns to politics. The general consensus is that most people like American people, but strongly disapprove of Bush’s decisions. Also, I hate to admit, but most people here know much more about American politics that I do and have developed their own opinions about the upcoming election and politics in general. This just shows how affected everyone is by American politics and that there is such a large number of people who oppose the current administration.

After seeing how much people in Northern Ireland, as well as in most other European countries, know about foreign issues, I am a wee bit embarrassed about my limited knowledge of politics and issues in other countries. These people know so much about my culture and politics, yet I did not even know about the problems in Northern Ireland until I signed up for the Bucknell in Northern Ireland program. I believe that this is a common occurrence among Americans and I think that it is very important to make an effort to stay up to date with the international happenings. I will try to make a personal effort to keep up with foreign affairs upon returning to the United States and I hope that you do to!

Back to Belfast

For our third trip to Belfast Nina and I forged our way from Derry to Belfast on the public bus. We were a bit nervous traveling by ourselves, mostly because we didn’t even have directions to Belfast Exposed after arriving at the bus station. Once we left the bus station we were relieved to see that Belfast Opera house which we had walked by the day before with our group. From there, the capital building can be seen, a landmark that is almost impossible to miss with its large ferris wheel located directly adjacent to it. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Belfast Exposed because Nina recognized the construction site that we have to pass before getting to Belfast Exposed from afar and exclaimed “I see Patton, I know where we are!!” All in all, we only got confused, but never lost, for a few minutes on our way.

When we walked in the doors a few minutes late we actually had an assignment waiting for us. Pauline, the director of the Gallery is leading and participating in two talks for which she needed some background information and research. Both of the talks relate to the current exhibition of Immigration around the world. The first talk pertains to the new border control regulations and deportation processes for the United Kingdom as well as other countries around the world. For this talk, Pauline needed to give some up to date information on individual deportation campaigns that have been raised. This was an interesting assignment, and one that I was not particularly expecting because it did not pertain only to Northern Ireland, the main theme of our studies. My research lead me to find many accounts of people traveling and immigrating to the United Kingdom as a whole, and two families in the Republic of Ireland.

The topic of immigration is not one that I know much about, even though it is a very hot topic in the United States too in recent years. I enjoyed being able to take the time to learn some more about immigration and deportation issues. I found that there were numerous blog entries from various people about controversial deportation occurrences. Newspapers and other news sources publish stories of individual family situation and then individuals take up issue to bring further awareness to the public and create a support network for the struggling families.

One of the stories in which I noticed this occurrence was the deportation of the Nigerian family of Olivia Agbanlahor and her six year old twins Great and Melissa. They moved Clonakility, a town in the south of the Republic of Ireland in order to escape the dangerous living situations in Nigeria. In 2006, Justice Minister Michael McDowell signed an order to deport the family. Soon after, Great was diagnosed with Autism, a condition that is associated with possession by evil spirits in Nigeria. If forced to move back to Nigeria, Great would both be ostracized and unable to receive the constant support and medical care needed. Olivia stated that she no longer has family in Nigeria and her children have never been there. She also said that it would be a death sentence for Great to be sent back to Nigeria after being diagnosed with Autism.



These kinds of stories are heart wrenching and create a sense of community within people who read about, support or are involved in the process. I understand that governments cannot bend their rules for every single sad case that comes up because almost everyone that immigrates to a new country is leaving some kind of hardship. Each family has it’s own emotional story and it is extremely sad that some people just do not have the opportunity to remain in safety. I wonder how the families that I researched are making out after being deported back to their home countries and I hope they have managed to find safety and security.

Half way through already?

Hello again! I hope you are all excited to read more about my travels!

Nina an I again traveled the two hour journey to Belfast to spend our second and third days working at Belfast Exposed. The dynamic of the workplace is completely different than anything I have seen in the United States. The first day we were there both Nina and I thought the lack of structure and plans were just an component of getting used to and integrated into a new space. However, I have come to see that people here simply don’t have such structured and planed out days, both at work and in everyday life. I am so used to the hustle and bustle of every activity at home that it is almost hard to accept that other cultures are more relaxed and carefree about their time schedules.

A result of this lack of planing lead us to spend a good portion of our second day talking with Melvin, the resident photographer and community workshop leader. He has taken many of the pictures that make up the archive and is able to talk in detail about almost every photo. We talked for a long time about his current project, which he has been working on for years. Every summer for almost 100 years the Protestant communities in several cities and towns in Northern Ireland build huge bonfires out of collected wood. The largest is located in Belfast on Shankill Road. On the night of the11th of July these bonfires are lit in order to celebrate the 12th of July, a very important Unionist holiday celebrating their victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Marvin has been visiting all the cites and photographing the process of building these huge bonfires (the largest are multiple stories high!) and will visit each site again the night they are lit in July. In interesting tid bit about these fires is that they typically were made from old tires, but burning of these tires is now banned because of the environmental harm that burning of rubber causes.

I asked him if I would be able to attend the bonfire celebration (if I were here on that night) and he assured me that they are very safe until a certain point in the night when “you just know when to leave” before the drunken rowdiness and fighting begins. I was interested in hear that tourists would be welcome to this huge celebration of Protestant and Unionist identity. I thought this would be a time when outsiders would not be accepted. I then asked if Marvin had ever attended a bonfire when he was growing up. He replied that he would not have been allowed to, a quite obvious sign of his Catholic, Republican upbringing.

After living in Northern Ireland for over a week now and knowing
a “wee bit” more about the conflict I find myself trying to figure out which side people are on. Some people, mostly the professors who give our lectures, seem more neutral and it is hard to pin point their history. Often they will make a fleeting comment which then shows their orientation. I find these moments very interesting because they try to give unbiased information, but there always seems to be a moment when their personal biases and orientations become evident. On the other hand, others do not wish to hid their backgrounds. For example, a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force led our group through a tour of Unionist Murals in Belfast yesterday. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt revealing a tattoo on his forearm saying U.V.F. POW 76.He wanted everyone to know that he served time in prison because of his involvement in paramilitary activity in 1976. I am also amazed at how this man is still considered a terrorist, yet guided us through Belfast enthusiastically. He seemed to be a very nice person, though one with very strong personal beliefs and important involvement in the U.V.F. to this day. His biases were very evident and it was also obvious that he purposefully tried to avoid making loaded comments about the opposing Catholic community.



Meeting people from both sides helps me to understand better the extremity and seriousness of the conflict. I also find myself developing my own ideas and biases of the conflict, even though I did not even know about the Troubles while they were happening. I hope to continue meeting people and hearing personal accounts of the time. I find it amazing that every person has their own personal stories of how they have been affected by the events of the past thirty years. I am also amazed I have been meeting and talking to people who are regarded as terrorists, paramilitaries and murderers as part of our educational and cultural experiences.