To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the landmark British-Irish peace accord known as the Good Friday Agreement, UMass Amherst welcomed the return of muralists Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine for a rededication of their mural “Justice, Diversity, and Opportunity,” on Monday, April 10. 

The mural, commissioned by UMass as part of peacebuilding efforts to highlight the power of art in conflict transformation, was painted in 2010 by Devenny and Ervine, two of the leading muralists during the North/Northern Ireland conflict and transition to peace, along with members of the UMass community. 

Devenny is an ex-Irish Republican Army political prisoner and Ervine is a British loyalist whose father served in the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and was a negotiator on their behalf for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. 

Joining the artists at the rededication ceremony were Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy; Peter Abbott, OBE, British consul general; Laoise Moore, consul general of Ireland; and Leah Wing, senior lecturer II in the Legal Studies program of the Department of Political Science and founder of the Art of Conflict Transformation event series. 

This event was part of the Art of Conflict Transformation Event Series brings to UMass scholars, artists and conflict resolvers to explore the geography of conflict, the spaces in and on which conflict has been imprinted and expressed, and the emerging terrains of resistance, resilience and transformation.