Banned 'Bloody Sunday' painting back in Belfast
October 19 2011
Picture: Conrad Atkinson (b.1940) 'Silver Liberties', 1978.
The above painting by Conrad Atkinson will go on display for the first time in Northern Ireland since it was refused to be hung by porters at Ulster Museum back in 1978. The first panel shows photos of the 13 people killed on Bloody Sunday and a blood-stained banner carried on the day of the march. The work was originally commissioned by Nicholas Serota, former curator of the Tate. The artist says:
"I wanted to tell the English about the situation in Northern Ireland, and how civil liberties were being eroded in Great Britain as a whole"
The curator of the exhibition titled 'Tears in Rain' is the politician and publisher Mairtin O Muilleoir. He says:
I hope they'll appreciate it as a show about peace rather than politics"
The exhibition, which features other important works by well-known Irish artists, is being held at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast and will there until the 3rd December. Details here.
By LH
