Portraits & Interiors from the Albert Bar

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Loyalist Prisoners on Easter Parole (under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (bar hatch), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (table & seat), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Dodo, 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (leather coated woman), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (cherubim), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (blue table), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (young mother), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (drum), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (bass ashtray), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (young man), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (mother & son), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (man smoking), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (seat detail), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Pye, 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (A view of Carrickfergus Castle), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Snipe, 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (red seat), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (kids), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (red telephone), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (band member), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (friends), 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Jamesy, 1999

1999

For a long time Northern Ireland was considered one of the world’s intractable conflicts with little hope of a political solution to the violence between Catholic and Protestant communities. From the late 1960s until 1998 more than 3500 people died in related attacks. The worst year of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ was 1972. Nearly 500 people died and 5,000 were injured. This was also the year I was born. The town I was born and raised in was Carrickfergus. The town is historically notable as the place the Protestant Prince William of Orange landed, before going on to fight and defeat the Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known in British–Irish history. In more recent history it was a Carrick man who committed one of the first murders of the troubles in 1966. These photographs were taken in a loyalist bar in Carrickfergus over the Easter period of 1999 when political prisoners were beginning to be paroled under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement is often spoken of as the end point of the conflict but continuing violence indicates that peace is not as stable as widely perceived.

*Statistics from the National Archive

For more writing on this project see ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Art as irritant’ in selected texts.

close

Untitled (beam of light), 1999