"Authentic Art" - Derrys Peace Mural

The Peace Mural, the jewel in the crown of the suite of 12 large scale murals in Derry's Bogside Northern Ireland known as The People's Gallery has just finished it refurbishment. These murals narrate the main events of the conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from 1968-1998 as they impacted the city where it all began. They were created by three artists famous as The Bogside Artists. End Quote

Were the city of Rome to take the same view of its artistic attractions as Derry does... it would go bankrupt in a day.

(1888PressRelease) April 25, 2015 - The Bogside Artists have just completed the renovation of their iconic Peace Mural. This beautiful painting is a homage to the children who inspired it and to the city in its ongoing struggle for peace and stability in a time of hardship.

During the ongoing economic recession The People's Gallery of 12 murals situated in the heart of the Bogside area of Derry that saw much of the conflict draws many thousands of people from all over the world to the city each year. Incredibly, the murals are kept in the dark while many other culturally insignificant, urban features and buildings have been illuminated at great expense. Lighting for the murals was once on the cards in 2004 but was actively prevented by Sinn Fein in a meeting with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Sinn Fein to which the artists were not invited.

Despite numerous attempts by the artists to get their local council to illuminate the murals, if only in recognition of their economic importance to the city, neither the Tourist Board nor the local Derry council, both for party political reasons, seem inclined to do the decent thing. Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears... and blind eyes.

Explained the artists' spokesman Tom Kelly; "It's simple really. Our murals tell the truth; and Sinn Fein who are busy rewriting our history in order to cosmeticize their role in it, find the murals contradicting them at every step."

"Our work is Art, pure and simple. It transcends mere politics and grafted mythology. Moreover it is AUTHENTIC art created by us who witnessed the events we have depicted. Sinn Fein would love to replace them all with inauthentic Republican propaganda; but they cannot do so without violating our legal copyright. Hence the overt hostility towards the murals, an attitude fuelled by their ties to both Unionists and Britain without whose financial support this place and all who sail in her, controllers and their hirelings alike, would sink without trace."

"Hell will freeze over before they decide to illuminate the murals even though it is in the best interests of the people, who regrettably put them in office, to do so. The People's Gallery is an established feature of the city and cited as of considerable cultural importance in a great many books and documentaries. What we serve is the only thing all artists everywhere MUST serve, Freedom of Speech. This, and ONLY this, is what democracy is actually derived from. That is what your vote is... your voice. So too, do our murals speak... for Mankind. It is a crime against us all for anyone to seek to stifle them or hide them from view. But such is certainly the goal of this corrupt regime."

Just to make their point of who controls the Bogside and its history abundantly clear Sinn Fein politicos completely froze out the murals from the recent 2013 City of Culture year long celebration. No reference was made of them at all in the media that is carefully policed by the regime. Silence. Britain who financed the gig to the tune of over $60 million would not have needed to ask them for help in hiding its blood-stained past. Moreover, no lasting legacy for which over two million dollars had been given, was left.

The People's Gallery has four pages devoted to it in the Lonely Planet's Guide to Ireland. It has featured in countless magazines, newspapers and broadcasts throughout the world. Many highly respected art gurus such as Prof. Franco Bianchini and Prof. Richard Demarco have sung its praises. It is know the world over from Los Angeles to Shenzhen.

The Bogside Artists were invited in 2012 to paint a mural for the city of Maribor, Slovenia, then European City of Culture for that year. It was unveiled by His Holiness the Dalai Lama with many of the world's press present. Virtually NO mention at all was made of this momentous honour and achievement by three local Derry artists in the city's media. None at all elsewhere in the UK. The BBC and UTV were both contacted by Maribor's council to cover the event. Both declined.

The murals are currently being renovated, thanks entirely to funding from the Cohesion Department of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, a gesture for which the artists are sincerely grateful.

Were the city of Rome to take the same view of its artistic attractions as Derry does... it would go bankrupt in a day. But it seems that so long as the local politicos can pick up their salaries and feather their own nests, an activity in which all parties especially Sinn Fein are presently engaged, the city, its people.... and its most precious and authentic art works... can all go to blazes. The Bogside Artists soldier on, unstoppably. More power to them!

http://www.bogsidemurals.net

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