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News in Brief; Drawing Support 3: Murals and Transition in the North of Ireland by Bill Rolston

01 July 2003

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During the past three decades of political conflict in the North of Ireland, murals have been a highly visible part of
the political scene. Having charted their development in two best-selling books – Drawing Support: Murals in the
North of Ireland (1992) and Drawing Support 2: Murals of War and Peace (1996) – Bill Rolston now brings the
story up to date.

The 114 photographs and ten pages of text in this latest book cover the developments in mural painting between
1996 and the present. The period has been one of a live, if at times precarious, peace process. Republican murals
responded in a number of ways: dropping paramilitary references except in memorial murals, and frequently
commenting on progress – or the lack of it – in the peace process. They have also continued to represent themes
that were their hallmark since the 1980s: electoral campaigns, opposition to state repression, Irish history and
mythology, and references to political struggles against colonialism and repression elsewhere in the world.

Loyalist murals, on the contrary, became for some years increasingly dominated by paramilitary imagery and made
few direct comments to current political events and issues. There has been some change in welcome years with the
appearance of a number of murals on historical themes – including World War 1 – and murals on the theme of
Ulster Scots language, culture and history.

Finally, the book contains a number of photographs of murals painted by loyalist and republican prisoners inside
Long Kesh. With the release of these prisoners by July 2000, the murals were painted out.

Details: 60 pages, with 114 photographs, paperback. ISBN 1- 900960-23-0. Price: £11.99. Free postage for
sales to Europe and surface mail for the rest of the world. Airmail option for rest of the world.

Order direct from the publisher: Beyond the Pale Publications

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