Former Belfast enemies to paint mural
Two Belfast, Northern Ireland artists whose communities were previously at war will paint a mural in the Campus Center Reading Room next week as part of the Art of Conflict Transformation Event Series.
Danny Devenny, former Irish Republican Army, and Mark Ervine, son of David Ervine, former Progressive Unionist Party leader and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member, will be painting the work daily between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. from April 26-29.
The finished mural will be unveiled on Friday, May 1 at a reception from 3-5 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge of the Student Union. The event will feature live traditional Irish music and refreshments.
According to Leah Wing, lecturer in Legal Studies, the idea of Republicans and Loyalists jointly painting is rife with symbolism, given the political nature of the 2,000 murals in the region. For 40 years, murals have communicated about the war and other pressing social issues and in 2007, Devenny and Ervine painted the first joint mural.
The efforts of the two artists and related issues will be discussed at a panel on “Conflict Transformation, Narration, and Public Space in the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland” on Thursday, April 30 from 1-5:30 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge of the Student Union.
At the event, Devenny and Ervine will discuss “Murals, Reconciliation, and Justice.”
Patricia Lundy of the University of Ulster and Mark McGovern of Edge Hill University will speak on “Public Truth Recovery: Memory, Justice and Conflict Transformation.” International experts on transitional justice, they will address the challenges of reaching shared understandings in state and community initiatives; interrogating the dominance of a legal paradigm in current policy and practice for dealing with the past.
The events are sponsored by the Graduate School; Falls Community Council; College of Social and Behavior Sciences; Department of Legal Studies; Law and Society Initiative, Psychology of Peace and Violence Concentration; Interdisciplinary Seminar on Humanities and the Arts; National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center; and the Social Justice Mediation Institute.
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April 26, 2009.
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