Bogside Murals to be Signposted

The famous murals of the Bogside Derry, N.Ireland, are to be signposted at long last by the local city council. End Quote

The People's Gallery should have been signposted years ago. (The Bogside Artists).

(1888PressRelease) November 27, 2012 - Derry will host next years Turner Prize as part of the package that goes with its recent award as UK City of Culture 2013.

The People's Gallery is, of course, one of the great tourist draws anywhere in Ireland. Situated in the Bogside of Derry in the North it brings in thousands of visitors each year. With the international Irish Festival taking place there next year many thousands more are expected to come to see The People's Gallery. The twelve murals that make it up are known world wide. These murals tell the story of over three decades of social upheaval that afflicted the province and brought the entire country to the brink of civil war. Derry was considered the headquarters of the IRA activists. The People's Gallery tells the story of this epic struggle for democratic rights. It was envisioned and created by three local muralists known internationally as The Bogside Artists.

Recently it was announced that signage would soon be put in place by the council pointing to the location of the gallery in the Bogside. The artists have publicly stated that they are opposed to the UK City of Culture seeing it as a short-term profiteering opportunity for only a few in a position to exploit it. In response to this pledge by the council the artists released the following statement:
" We see this promise to signpost The People's Gallery as a long overdue recognition of the importance of our murals as a feature of the city. Divisions are still maintained by people in power. This mediaeval "either-or" mindset has seen millions pumped into promoting the city walls while our recent history as expressed in The People's Gallery has been totally suppressed. These signs should have been put in place years ago as a gesture of respect, if nothing else, by politicians to the people who put them into office and whose story we have told. But these days they feather each other's nests and will continue to do so so long as both nests are kept well apart leaving future generations with the same mess that has been embedded here for centuries. It is small comfort for us that visitors at last will get to know where the murals are situated. Total non-entities that are visited by few are signposted to the hilt around the city but The People's Gallery is not. Call us crazy but you do not really see anybody fighting their way to rain-swept Derry to view the line of bricks that calls itself the "city walls" as if Derry alone of all the cities in Europe could boast such a common feature. They come to see and experience where all the trouble began and to view the murals that we created."

Dr. Martin Melaugh of Magee University recently made public facts which leave no doubt whatever of the great importance the murals have globally in terms of internet presence. What irks the artists above all, apart from the fact that they have been lobbying council for over a decade to put signs in place for their murals is the fact also that although The People's Gallery is hugely popular at home and abroad not a single penny has been spent down the years by the council or Tourist Boards in marketing The People's Gallery as a tourist destination. Indeed the very phrase "The People's Gallery" according to spokesman Tom Kelly is... "virtually taboo in the media" in obeyance to what the artists view as "a policy of belittlement and denigration that serves nobody".

It is hoped that the new signage will go far to putting right what the artists clearly perceive as long-standing injustice.

http://www.bogsidemurals.net

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