This week I chose to attend an exhibit called "From Protest to Peace," currently on display at the Spurlock Museum. Going into it, I knew that my familiarity with the subject matter - a tumultous time period in Northern Ireland known as "the Troubles"- was fairly limited. As far as my memory of Ireland's history goes, images of potatoes, great famines, and immigrants coming to the US are the only things that come to mind. So I was hoping to learn a thing or two after seeing this exhibit by the Bogside artists, three Irish painters who experienced "the Troubles" firsthand.
My lack of awareness was made visible from the very first sign that I viewed. It said, "You are now entering Free Derry." My gut reaction was to think of the word "dairy", and try to make some sort of correlation between it and the image which stood before me. Although I was initially stumped, it didn't take long to realize that Derry was an actually city in Ireland which held a lot of significance as far as the history of "the Troubles" goes. There were several informational hangings which described in detail the history of the land, the political unrest, the civil rights movement, the martyrs, the deaths of children...in some ways I expected to see these visual cues to aid the uninformed like myself, but at the same time I wasn't expecting to see how serious the matter was. Despite attending the exhibit and reading about the events though, I'm still afraid that the average viewer cannot grasp the history as well as the Bogside artists or actual Irish citizens themselves probably understand it. I certainly wouldn't call it a failed attempt either. What I personally failed to realize for some time was that the images that were placed together in this exhibit before me were simply smaller installation versions of the "real deal" - the gigantic painted murals which are actually located on buildings in Derry today. Understanding that was definitely a bit of a game changer for me. That's when it hit me that these weren't just some nice illustrations of troubled Irish people. I also realized that these things were happening around the same time when big changes were happening in America as well, such as our own civil rights movement. 
There was a small video playing in the very back of the room, and unfortunately it was difficult to hear the audio whenever others nearby in the Museum were talking. I thought it was a wise choice to have this non-static piece of information that was alive. I got to listen to the history from the perspective of the actual Bogside artists, and they helped cement the reminder that these events happened to real people, and that it was about the everyday people.
I also thought it was great how local children were assimilated into the process by helping design and paint some of the murals, such as finale in the series, "The Peace Mural." This reminds me of how I've sometimes wished that the School of Art+Design would let us paint the walls of the building or even leave our mark on the exterior somehow. I think some of the best freedom of expression I've seen in the entire place was the restroom graffiti, and sadly that too is gone. I'm not saying that there is politically-charged history within our school property, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea to leave some inspiration for future generations.
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