A MAKEOVER for the peace walls separating nationalist and loyalist areas in Belfast was unveiled yesterday.
Images of unionist history, traditions, politics and culture have replaced the older and darker references to the UVF, the UFF and KAT (Kill all Taigs) that are painted on the wall at Cupar Way in the Shankill.
As well as references to the Orange Order, to Lord Edward Carson and the Somme there is also mention of international matters such as the conflicts in Iraq and the Middle East along three stretches of the 500m wall.
It is all part of a scheme to generate a positive image of the Shankill, according to project co-ordinator Roz Small of the Greater Shankill Partnership.
“The people chose what they wanted on the wall. Everything came out of community consultation.” One of the art pieces features a father with his Orange collarette walking happily with his young son, also in an Orange Order collarette, and his daughter. Edward Carson is depicted with his quotation: “Only a fool would fight if there is an opportunity for accommodation”.
The second work includes a quotation from the late Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine: “Our divided society can be a better place to live. There are great opportunities for Northern Ireland, we just have to grasp them.” The third piece includes a painting of loyalist community worker Baroness May Blood and general exhortations for people to seize work and educational opportunities.
One local man yesterday agreed that the pieces “brighten up the area” but as for the chances of the wall ever coming down, he recalled the terrible sectarian violence at this interface and emphatically said: “No, it’ll never happen, we need the wall.”
Ms Small said there was a hope that Northern Ireland’s 40 or more peace walls would eventually be toppled.
The work was commissioned shortly before Christmas and the three pieces were carried out by Dublin artists Brian Maguire and Brian O’Connor, Northern Ireland artists Alan Cargo and Eleanor Wheeler, and John Johnston and Dee Craig, also from the North.
