THE MURALS ON SITE
Between 1994 and 2006, three artists from Derry - brothers Tom and William Kelly, along with their friend Kevin Hasson -, painted twelve striking murals on the gable walls of a series of flats in the Bogside neighbourhood of their city. The Bogside, named after the floodplain of the nearby River Foyle, had been the epicentre of key events that sparked the Troubles.
The murals, which are located on Rossville Street which runs through the heart of the Bogside, were funded entirely by donations from local residents and are collectively known as The People’s Gallery.
The murals depict key moments in the Bogside’s history during the Troubles. Born and raised in the neighbourhood, the three artists created them to remember and commemorate the traumatic events that shaped their own lives and those of their community.
For many years, Derry’s Catholic population was treated as second-class citizens by the majority-Protestant government, denied fair access to housing, employment, and the right to one person, one vote.
In the late 1960’s, inspired by the American civil rights movement, in America, they began organising marches to protest their treatment and to demand equal rights as full British citizens.
The murals portray key moments from the Troubles, including the early civil rights marches, the Battle of the Bogside, civil rights campaigner Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Bloody Sunday, the hunger strikes, and Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume—alongside children who lost their lives to bombs or bullets, among them relatives and friends of the artists.
Since the Peace Agreement, politicians on both sides have sought to rewrite history to suit their own narratives and to rebrand Northern Ireland as an inclusive and safe ‘post-conflict’ society. Yet despite the agreement and the establishment of a power-sharing government, the social fabric remains marked by deeply ingrained sectarian divisions.
The murals serve as vital talking points and spaces for local people to confront and process painful memories—especially in a context where they are often urged to ‘draw a line under the past’ and ‘move on.’
At a time of ongoing uncertainties in a post-Brexit political landscape—and mindful of the many people affected by conflict elsewhere - revisiting the wounds inflicted on ordinary people, including a generation of children and young people deprived of a normal childhood and education, has never been more relevant.
