2

Street Art

Continuing the theme from the last page.

The mural below is a depiction of scenes at the height of the rioting in the Bogside. The woman with the loudhailer is Bernadette Devlin (now McAliskey) at that time a student leader from a group known as 'Peoples Democracy'.  They were politically on the extreme left and seized the opportunity provided by the revolutionary flavour of the times to agitate for more and more action to overthrow the established order. The political allies of the leftist agitators of the Paris student uprising and other groups throughout Europe and beyond they have since disappeared into the mists of political history. Devlin herself was briefly elected as a Member of the UK Parliament but has since all but dropped out of view. The young woman in the background is preparing 'ammunition' for the youths at the barricade.

In the painting below a youth with a home made shield as protection against the rubber bullets used by the troops stands stone in hand as a Saracen armoured car moves towards him. A tear gas grenade smokes at his feet. The black and white depiction of the scene is a very effective medium for the message!

Previous    Index     Next