Belfast

Belfast City Hall (Photo: Shania Kelly, 2017)

When I wandered around Belfast, it was easy to see the marks of the past. Murals on street corners depicted those lost in the 30 year conflict known as “The Troubles,” a civil war between Irish Catholic Nationalists and British Protestant Loyalists. Plaques, barely perceptible and placed above door frames, marked the location where a person was gunned down.

And, while it was hard to escape, and possibly irresponsible to try to, these memories of the brutal history of the city, there is much more to Belfast. As a young person in Belfast, 20 years after the official end of the conflict, art and culture was easy to find. I could easily watch a show at the Grand Opera House, a 100 year old theatre designed to look like an Indian palace, or at least, a British man’s interpretation of one. I could walk up the streets of Queen’s Quarter, the university district, with my friends and duck into any pub to listen to live music. One night it was blues, another Irish trad.

When Belfast’s art did speak of the Troubles, there was space to do so with healing voices of reconciliation. This was especially true in Belfast City Hall, where space was carved out to share the voices of locals and survivors of the conflict. It was a space for reflection, where one could honour the past while dreaming of a shared future. This was a different Belfast than 20 years before and who knows what the city will see in 20 more years. Hopefully, Belfast’s arts community will continue to provide spaces to dream.