Can public art ever serve peace and reconciliation?
Gonzo highlighted Malachi O’Doherty’s excellent online sound archive Arts Talk on Saturday… I’d reiterate his recommendation of the O’Searcaigh interview, not least because it provides an insight into the ways film makers can cut film in ways that tell a story quite different to the one they thought they were involved in. But it’s his latest, an interview with the artist Sean Hillen who was involved developing in the Omagh bomb memorial that’s worth listening to. It’s no exaggeration to say the man was scared by the experience of working with a huge committee of people all with conflicting concerns. Whilst not embarrassed by the result; he believes that art requires a more private relationship with the commissioning body. So in a year when a day of remembrance passed with little public recognition does that mean that the Troubles as they stand can only continue to be remembered separately in different ways by the various communities?
Mick,
My apologies, off topic. I can’t post comments because your bot says I’m not registered. I thought I was. I must be because your registration page tells me my name and email are already in use.
Mick,
As you can see the problem is fixed :^)
The latest Loyalist effort is about ‘what we have have we hold’ no about regret or remorse. I happened to mention a recent work to a liberal unionist as an indication of the possibility that thinks might be changing he simply growled about the person being a ‘provo’ – the subject of the mural in question – Picasso’s Guernica.