Lanark Way gate - October '24 by Vicky Cosstick
Many thanks for visiting my Crowdfunder page and considering supporting me!
You may remember my book “Belfast: Toward a City Without Walls”, which was published in June 2015. It is an exploration of the 100 “peacewalls” and interfaces that divide Protestant from Catholic communities and which are a continuing legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
I have recently accepted a commission to contribute a chapter to an ambitious new book called Belfast, with the broad theme of urban space (deadline November 2025). The book has been in preparation for some years by editors Ciaran Mackel, a well-known Belfast architect, and academic architect Alona Martinez for prospective publication by Actar.
Why do the peacewalls matter? The 1998 Good Friday Agreement was internationally recognised as a textbook conflict resolution process, which brought 30 years of endemic sectarian violence almost entirely to an end. But the GFA was not perfect. Over 25 years later, the peacewalls remain and have even been extended. They are a major tourist attraction, both monumental and politically invisible, in some places just a banal mark of systemic neglect. They are both sign and cause of ongoing trauma in Northern Ireland, and a symbol of the incomplete post-conflict process. Frankie Quinn’s evolving approach to photographing the walls has helped to maintain interest in the walls, and the process I am engaging in also aims to keep the conversation about the peacewalls and interfaces alive.
Please support me, however you are able, in my Belfast 2025 Project to revisit the work of my 2015 book and reignite conversation about the peacewalls and interfaces which still divide Catholic from Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, the enduring physical legacy of the Troubles. The project includes research, interviews, a day conference & Zoom session, and a set of stunning new colour images by Frankie Quinn. It will lead to a book chapter for completion in November '25. For further information about the project please see my website page here. And please share this request with anyone else you think might be interested.
[Please note it is not necessary to add a tip and you should be able to change it - let me know if you have any difficulty with this.]
My Belfast 2025 Project will include:
- Fresh research and interviews with contacts and stakeholders old and new.
- A day conference in Belfast on 23 June 2025 at Townsend Memorial Hall. (This is part of the listed former Presbyterian church interface site now owned by Ulster Orchestra) .
- A new set of 20 images from internationally renowned Belfast photographer Frankie Quinn to illustrate the chapter and be exhibited at the conference.
- A Zoom conference in September to discuss emerging findings from the research.
The chapter and work are unpaid and do not qualify for any grant so I am fundraising for £3,000 to cover the expenses of this project: the commissioning of the photos from Frankie Quinn, the 23 June conference, travel to Belfast and additional further costs.
Ulster Orchestra in their new rehearsal space in the listed former Presbyterian Church - on the Townsend Street interface -- photo © Frankie Quinn 2025
A government promise to remove the peacewalls by 2023 was not fulfilled -- but in the last decade there have been significant developments around the interfaces. The research, conferences and chapter will explore “what has changed around the peacewalls and interfaces in Belfast in recent years? What has been the constructive change, what is changing now, what still needs to change? How might that happen and what are the inhibiting factors? ”
Vicky & Frankie at "Belfast: Cordon Sanitaire" launch - photo © Mal McCann 2023.
My book was written in response to a promise made in 2013 by the Northern Ireland executive at the time (Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness) that all the walls would be removed within 10 years, by 2023. There have been developments and transformations in the interface areas of north, west and east Belfast but the promise to remove them all was not fulfilled. Northern Ireland remains a post-conflict society with many unresolved issues.
Since the book was published I have:
- Had a number of articles on Northern Ireland published on Northern Slant, most recently 2021 (now sadly defunct, but the articles are republished on my website).
- Hosted a follow-up conversation with a number of interface/peacewalls stakeholders in November 2016.
- Had two articles in the Irish Times published.
- Published Don't Mention the War: Exploring the Legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Feb 2019, available here).
- Written introductions to the two most recent books on the peacewalls by Frankie Quinn, “Cordon Sanitaire” (Belfast Exposed 2019) and "Belfast: Cordon Sanitaire" (Georg 2023).
- Had several engagements with film makers and academics with an interest in the peacewalls.
£40.00 + donation incentive: a signed and numbered, limited edition fan featuring old and new images of the Townsend Street gate by Frankie Quinn on each side.