Art

‘Productive discomfort’: artists grapple with identity’s contradictions in live ARINS podcast

| Readers 398

Belfast Exposed gallery on Donegall Street hosted a live recording of the ARINS “My Identity” podcast on 8 May 2026, as part of the BIEN programme — an ongoing series of exhibitions and events under the title “British? Irish? Either? Neither?”. The event was chaired by Professor Colin Graham of Maynooth University, who hosts the podcast series, with the discussion featuring artists Joy Gerrard and Paul Seawright. It was sponsored by the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression (OICE) and co-presented by Belfast Exposed and the ARINS Project, with special …

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‘The violence is continuing’: scholars examine embodied memory of conflict

| Readers 403

The International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster University hosted a seminar to mark the exhibition “Aftershocks: The Sensory Afterlives of Violence”, on display at the university’s Belfast campus until 13 May. The seminar brought together Professor Roísín Higgins (Maynooth University), who organised the event and chaired proceedings, in conversation with Professor Élise Féron (Director of INCORE); Dr Lisa Fitzpatrick (Senior Lecturer in Drama at Ulster); and Dr Adrian Grant (Lecturer in History at Ulster). The discussion focused on their research and its relationship to embodied memory — how conflict …

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Peace photography: supporting conflict transformation

| Readers 305

At an online session organised by Dr Tiffany Fairey, a senior research fellow at King’s College London, participants gathered to explore the intersection of photography and peace. The event brought together a range of experts and practitioners to discuss how photography can foster cultures of peace in different contexts. The panel was chaired by Dr Fairey, who leads a research project called Imaging Peace — a multi-year, multi-country study of peace photography. She framed the session with a probing question: “What is …

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Exploring cultural peace work in Northern Ireland

| Readers 1093

Cultural peace work entails using creative and cultural practices to foster peace and reconciliation, particularly in post-conflict societies. In Northern Ireland, various organisations and individuals are harnessing the power of arts and culture to address deep-seated issues from a history of sectarian violence. In a recent session centred on cultural peace work and the dynamic of creativity in peacebuilding, various experts shared their insights. Their discussions delved into the importance of cultural spaces, the challenges faced in creative practices, and the significance …

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Transmitting photographic energy of colour and love: Hannah Starkey’s Northern Ireland peace women

| Readers 565

As part of the Belfast Photo Festival and in partnership with the Ulster Museum, artist Hannah Starkey gave a talk about her previous work and current exhibition on display, Principled and Revolutionary: Northern Ireland’s Peace Women. She addressed an audience of two dozen seated in the middle of the exhibition room, surrounded by 21 two-metre portraits on the walls. Starkey began by sharing memories of growing up in Belfast, accompanying her mother at her market stall, noting her respect and …

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‘A long-term devotion to complexities’: women, art and activism

| Readers 847

As part of the Belfast Photo Festival and hosted by the Ulster Museum, several panels of women spoke about how the realms of artistic practice and activism have evolved over recent decades, with consideration of future change. National Museums NI curator, Anna Liesching, explained to the audience of several dozen that the motivation for the day-long symposium was the current exhibition of work by Hanna Starkey, a collection of 21 two-metre portraits of peace women. The first panel theme was …

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Art can transcend GFA ‘institutional sclerosis’: Paul Arthur

| Readers 1772

Professor Paul Arthur (Ulster University) suggested that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement could be interpreted as “the end of the beginning”, when we moved from a political life of zero-sum (if you’re winning, I must be losing), to one of agreeing to disagree (with an element of mutual respect). He elaborated on this during his talk at the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre in Limavady, as part of a series of events co-hosted with his university and the Causeway Coast …

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The memorials in our heads: the Im/material Monument (Gail Ritchie)

| Readers 1243

As the information sheet for Gail Ritchie’s exhibition, The Im/material Monument, points out, 25 years after the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement there is no memorial to commemorate the collective dead of the Troubles. Through a series of objects, Ritchie challenges our imaginations as to what our memorialising could be. With a guided tour, she explained the motivations and intent of her work on display at QSS Artist Studios. Ritchie began her curated tour by remarking that she had …

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Peace Heroines: Spotlight on Stormont

| Readers 1237

The Herstory project, established in 2016 to elevate the stories of women in national histories, launched an art exhibition at the Long Gallery in Parliament Buildings, Belfast. “Peace Heroines” features nine vibrant, largescale individual portrait paintings by artist FRIZ — women who have made an indelible mark on the Northern Ireland peace process, including Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, Linda Ervine, Pat Hume, May Blood, Ann Carr, and Saidie Patterson. Several took part in an event discussion with Herstory creative director, Melanie Lynch. After …

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Symbolism: the art of propaganda…

| Readers 2259

Edward Colston, Slave trader, Tory member of Parliament and…philanthropist. As a liberal who believes that society, the law and democracy should serve only to liberate I abhor slavery and its nefarious influence which still skews our global economy to this very day. The city of Bristol, like so many other western European port towns, lives with the historical scar of Colston’s ill-gotten wealth. There is a hall, tower, schools and streets named after this man throughout the city. In many …

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Can art therapy be a form of visual protest?

| Readers 671

The body social is a term that relates to society and the impact of social content upon identity. Art therapy has a role to play in understanding how subjectivity and society are related. Everybody has the potential to live out of bounds, and is entitled to expression on their own terms. A feminist agenda for art therapy not only highlights the significance of “the personal is political”, but also activates public declarations of agency that declare the importance of “the …

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The Agreement. Ten Frames. Twenty Years.

| Readers 331

There’s going to be a lot of familiar and famous talking heads, looking back pensively, giving the ‘I was there’ definitive version of ‘what really happened’ at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement twenty years ago. We will note the wrinkles and the grey hair and we will see how they have changed, if only in their appearance. The usual role-call will be called. But what about artistic responses? What might an artist create that could ever contain the …

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“Art can tread where words and politics often can’t”: The Art of Conflict Transformation @The_JHS

| Readers 564

“Art can tread where words and politics often can’t”: The Art of Conflict Transformation @The_JHS
by Allan LEONARD @SharedFuture
25 July 2017

As part of the 30th anniversary of the John Hewitt Society international summer school, the Institute for Conflict Research (ICR) sponsored a panel discussion, “The Art of Conflict Transformation”, which explored how visual and performance art have contributed to our evolving conversation of our troubled past, with hope for dealing with legacy as well as prospects for reconciliation.

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A city in colour: behind the scenes with a street art veteran

| Readers 2000

You don’t have to think (as I do) that Belfast’s street art puts a priceless, living vein through the heart of our city to be fascinated by how those ‘walls’ happened and where the local scene behind them is going next. Taking Dermot McConaghy as a great example, the established street artist explained how the scene has grown and where we might see the art appearing next. He also talked through the personal journey which brought much-loved pieces like Long …

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Perhaps we should back off from legislating on what others can and cannot say?

| Readers 1746

This one has been bubbling under for the last 24 hours. It’s to do with late Joe McWilliams and the one painting he offered the Royal Ulster Academy: The RUA said McWilliams was a former president between 2000 and 2004 and as a senior academician with the organisation, was entitled to submit work “without selection” meaning he was responsible for deciding the piece, its subject matter and treatment, for the exhibition. RUA president Dr Denise Ferran said: “This year, due …

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Is Turandot the most controversial artistic production ever staged in Northern Ireland?

| Readers 1415

Following their successful production of Salome back in February, NI Opera’s Steven Hadley introduces the company’s next show Turandot [Ed – everyone can hum along with Nessun Dorma!] which he promises will challenge audience views on wealth, consumerism and the power of art to shock, educate and entertain. Is Northern Ireland ready? Northern Ireland Opera are closing this autumn’s Belfast International Arts Festival with three performances of the lavish Turandot by Giacomo Puccini at the Grand Opera House. It’s a …

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“Today, I hold fast to all tenets of mistrust…”

| Readers 381

The novelist Howard Jacobson on the virtues of art and literature over politics and politicians… It doesn’t follow from what I say that we should hand over the reins of political power to artists. They wouldn’t make a better job of it. But we would all make a better job of thinking about politics – indeed of thinking about anything – if we refused that daisy-chain of affiliation which the ideological hang around our necks, with the promise that we’ll …

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Art of the Troubles at the Ulster Museum

| Readers 346

The Ulster Museum’s Art of the Troubles exhibition is now open and runs through the summer until 7 September. A variety of styles, “sides” and periods exhibited: sixty works from fifty artists. Reactions to atrocities, depictions of politics (a particularly grim triptych by Joseph McWilliams of Sammy Wilson, Ian Paisley Snr and Peter Robinson) and peace talks, as well as reflections on how society dealt with conflict. The no photography rule was being strictly imposed in the gallery this afternoon, …

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Tenx9-A true story of Belfast

| Readers 115

Over the past two years I have constantly heard yarns from all and sundry about the importance of culture. Who belongs to this tradition and what emblems we should back over the other? So, I went along to the most recent Tenx9 event in the Black Box on Wednesday evening to see a cultural event in action. Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with tenx9-its basic premise is that 9 people have up to 10 minutes each to tell …

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