The Event at Boston College
Press release from the office of Public Affairs, Boston College.
"The Troubles: From Protest to Peace"
Boston College Hosts United States Debut
of Work by Bogside Artists of Derry, Ireland. June 25-July15.
Exhibition on Display at Bapst Library
CHESTNUT HILL, MA (6.18.98) -- An exhibition of paintings by three Northern Irish artists -- whose murals in the Catholic "Bogside" neighborhood of Derry have been among the signature political artworks of the Ulster strife -- will open next week in its United States debut, at Boston College's Bapst Library. "The Troubles: From Protest to Peace" will be on display from June 25 through July 15.
The Bogside Artists: According to exhibition organizers, the building-side murals of The Bogside Artists have formed a painted backdrop to years of turmoil in Derry, defiantly marking the boundaries of The Bogside neighborhood while rallying the nationalist spirit of the Catholic residents within. One of their well-known works depicts a young boy wearing a gas mask and readying a Molotov cocktail during the "Bloody Sunday" clash between Catholic protesters and British troops in 1972.
"You can't miss their work -- their "Bloody Sunday" mural is about 25 feet tall," says exhibition organizer John Michalczyk, Boston College Fine Arts Department professor and chairperson, who is making a documentary on the political murals of Northern Ireland (see below). "They don't mince words. Some of them are very tough, and the early ones, particularly, are very anti-British. Yet the tone of the murals has changed as Northern Ireland has moved toward peace," he adds, indicating what he describes as "an evolution in the artists' consciences toward support for peace." In the early years, the Irish Republican Army figured heavily in the muralists' work "as guardians of the territory and protectors of the neighborhood," Michalczyk says, while emphasis today is placed on events from Irish national history, such as the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine. He notes that one mural done since the Good Friday peace accord has a theme of resurrection.
"The Troubles: From Protest to Peace": The exhibition at Bapst Library -- which is located on Boston College's Chestnut Hill campus -- will feature eight-square-foot models of murals that cover the entire sides of buildings in The Bogside.
The exhibition comes to Boston College from its recent opening in Australia, and later travels to New York. Boston College's strong reputation in Irish Studies led the artists to choose the university as the site of the American debut of their work, according to Michalczyk. The exhibition coincides with BC's annual Gaelic Roots Music, Song, and Dance Summer School and Festival (June 21-27), and opens a month after Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, an architect of the recent Northern Ireland peace accord, delivered the address at the university's commencement exercises.
"Out of the Ashes: Nothern Ireland's Fragile Peace": The murals of the Bogside Artists figure prominently in a recent documentary by Michalczyk, "Out of the Ashes: Northern Ireland's Fragile Peace," which is due to air on PBS in July. The artists were also featured in a recent BBC documentary, which will be shown at the exhibition.
The artists have been the subject of a 40 minute documentary screened throughout Ireland in April 1998 to critical acclaim.
As for the work of the artists -- their murals have been seen in virtually every major magazine in the world. They have also been televised innumberable times on virtually every major TV network. As public art is not convered by the laws of copyright, the artists have received no revenue whatever from any section of the media. The artists' paintings, however, are currently touring America after a very successful mini-tour of Australia, where they were seen first of all at the Mildura Arts Centre under the curatorship of the brilliant Ian Hamilton. The Australian Catholic University and the Sydney College of the Arts (Sydney Uni) collaborated for the first time in their history in order to show jointly the paintings and photographs of The Bogside Artists.
Credit for this "first" must go to Judith Carroll, lecturer in art at the ACU. Peter Sheehan, Vice-Chancellor of ACU, and the students of the ACU union made a financial contribution to the artists to enable them to bring their work from Sydney to Boston College. [The work then travelled to New York.] The artists feel it is somewhat ironic that they can get shows anywhere in the world except in their home country.
NORTHERN IRELAND VIDEO AVAILABLE
"OUT OF THE ASHES: NORTHERN IRELAND'S FRAGILE PEACE"
A one-hour PBS documentary on the evolution of Northern Ireland from the violence of the Civil Rights Movement toward a cautious peace.
Producer:
Executive Producers: Dr. Rodney Petersen
Rev. Raymond Helmick, SJ
To order: Send $29.95 check payable to:
Boston Theological Institute (BTI)
210 Herrick Road
Newton Centre, MA 02159
Phone: (617) 557-4880
Fax: (617) 527-1073
The artists can be reached by email at: k_336@hotmail.com
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