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People look at projections of paintings as part of the exhibition ‘The Fantastic and Wonderful world of Bosch’, Brueghel, Arcimboldo at the Quarries of Lights (Carrieres de Lumiere) in Les Baux-de-Provence. — AFP
In Belfast, street art battles community rifts
F
rom the art of war to the art of peace: for decades
Belfast adorned its walls with huge community
murals marking the bloody history of the Northern
Irish conflict. But the murals springing up across the city
centre have another aim-helping to erase the CatholicProtestant divide. "I grew up in front of these political
murals and I thought that my goal was to take the city
and make it look completely different," street artist
Glenn Molloy, a former DJ, said.
Instead of guns, paramilitaries and clenched fists, his
murals in the city centre feature portraits of celebrities
like Jack Nicholson, Bruce Lee and David Bowie. With little hope in sight that this week's elections in Northern
Ireland will end a bitter political stalemate, Molloy said
his work is aimed at celebrating the positive.
"I wanted to give something positive, bright, cheerful, something that the people could relate to, rather
than to be oppressed," said Molloy, who is also well
known for painting portraits of the city's homeless population. Painted in black and white-with the contours of
their faces defined in red-his portraits have earned
Molloy the nickname of "Belfast Banksy," in reference to
the famous British street artist.
A powerful message
In the Protestant unionist stronghold of east Belfast,
some buildings' facades hark back to the violence that
reigned in the British-ruled province from 1969 to 1998.
"We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in
every man: the right, if you are attacked, to defend yourself," is written on the facade of a local pub. A 10-metre
high painting depicting two paramilitaries wearing balaclavas and armed with a machine gun is right next to the
quote.
The intimidating theme can be found on other
murals several kilometers away in the former north
Belfast bastions of the Irish Republican Army. "I don't
care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and
keeps on shooting"-a quote attributed to guerrilla icon
Che Guevara-can be read on a wall next to two bloody
clenched fists. Across the city, in both Catholic and
Protestant neighborhoods, the colorful murals helped to
demarcate territories.
But in the city centre a motley array of colorful and
non-political murals has for the past few years given
Belfast a new face. One shows a car driving through the
night, another enormous work depicts a bearded cook
Street art is pictured in Belfast, Northern Ireland. — AFP photos
with a lobster. Further down, a young melancholic girl is
painted in blue. Overall, more than 100 pieces of street
art have been created by artists from Britain, Ireland and
the rest of Europe.
Adam Turkington kick started the movement with a
street art festival he created five years ago called "Hit the
North." "Being non-political in Northern Ireland is being
political. Defending aesthetics, beauty, having fun, making the city look better is a pretty powerful message," he
said. "In Belfast, art and especially street art echoes the
silent majority, those who are not voting because they
are fed up," and "the tyranny of a tiny minority" obsessed
by divisions and religion, he said. Although the majority
of these murals have no particular message, mysterious
French artist MTO, in 2014 painted one of the most political pieces on display.
"The Son of Protagoras" shows a squatting child holding a dove killed by two arrows. One is Catholic, the other Protestant. "Protagoras is the father of agnosticism.
MTO's message is that religion is ruining this place,"
Turkington said. — AFP