Wednesday 3 August 2016

What are the Peace Lines?

Evening folks, hope your're all keeping well.

After some time off with my boys, i'm back to work at both my day job and also, in the late evenings, i'm busy preparing some more for the book.  That ranges from the following:

- Cutting the film negatives after they've been processed at a brilliant lab in Sheffield, England
- Packaging the negatives and sending them off to be drum scanned
- Tidying up the finished scan (although i'm very lucky as I have a fantastic drum scanning service)
- Writing sub titles for each piece of work - there will be about 90 or so.
- General communications between publishers, social media etc...

Its a fairly involved job, but I love every single aspect of it.  Feedback from you kind of folk really helps too.

So as I was going through all the negatives from the last two years, I realised that I needed to communicate more about what the Peace Walls/Peace Lines actually are.  Whilst I will obviously explore this in greater detail within the book, I wanted to talk briefly about it here.




Essentially the Peace Lines are physical, man made constructions used to separate communities and to prevent localised conflict.  The two communities that this (largely) applied to were ones containing Protestant's and Catholic's.  They were first introduced in 1971, two years after the start of 'The Troubles'.

The Troubles started in 1969, two years prior to the first structures, and involved approximately 50,000 people being killed or injured.  The conflict continued for approximately 30 years, with the after effects still being felt and harboured today.  Despite their emotional presence being retained by many and their physical one being shown in Peace Lines and murals, the progress Northern Ireland has made is monumental.

The Peace lines themselves were initially seen as a temporary measure to reduce harm and to aid policing of the areas. However, as you can see from the photographs, they are still very much within the geography after all these years.  During their implementation, there was involvement with town planning, where the placement of roads and Police Stations was often used as lines themselves and to act as a more 'subtle' measure.



Peace Lines exist in four areas in Northern Ireland, most of which are in the capital city, Belfast.  The lines themselves measure from only a few metres, to a few miles in length and approximately 10 metres tall.  Their pure physical form is to prevent the movement of persons, vehicles and objects through them.  The lines have witnessed much hurt over the decades, yet in a recent survey, over half the people that reside within their shadows want them to remain.  Their reasoning behind this decision is that they would not feel safe with their removal.

Coupled with the sense of security they offer, there have been huge negatives associated with their presence.  Mental health, particularly with males, is often poorer for those that reside side by side with these structures.  This is something that has largely been ignored or dismissed for years, however there are now organisations who work solely in improving the awareness and support for these individuals.

The Northern Irish Executive have committed to a 10 year plan, where they intend to remove all Peace Lines, walls and interfaces by the year 2023.  Although there has been the removal of some, approximately 100 remain totalling over 20km's in length.  Belfast itself is only 6km's wide, which shows you the scale of their presence.




Having worked alongside these walls and speaking with the persons involved in the communities, I find it hard to believe that the executive will achieve their commitment.  It is a massive logistic, mental and political undertaking.  However, what I have observed is an overwhelming belief that progress is being made at a rapid rate.  Not long ago, Northern Ireland was buried in a deep and venemous conflict.  Now, it is working on multiple levels to achieve security, prosperity.  And I am proud to see what it is becoming.


















Tuesday 26 July 2016

Partition book nears!

Good afternoon to you all,

I hope that you're enjoying your summer, wherever you are! Certainly, in this part of the world anyway, the weather could be better..

Anyway, I thought I would update you in relation to the status of the work and what will be happening over the coming months.

I suppose the first thing to tell you is that the work has been completed! Just a few weeks ago infact. This pleased me greatly as it showed that my initial timeline was pretty much bang on and at the end of this timeline I felt that I had achieved the desired amount of images.  And that desired amount increased somewhat from the initial estimate of approximately 65 to nearer 80 - and that's with a slight cull of some pieces of work.  The final amount of photographs taken will be approximately 90 and I am hoping to release the remainder of these unused images via a free download at the end of the project.

The last trip to complete the project was one of the most positive yet.  These were taken near to the 12th of July celebrations for many.  So often a time for conflict and aggression by some, however this was by far the quietest year I can remember.  Coupled with the wonderfully refreshing outlooks from persons that I was least expecting of, I am hugely proud of the direction Northern Ireland is going in.

Anyway, I'll share here a couple of new pieces...




With the completion of the actual imagery, this allows me to focus on the next objective - the book.  I had previously announced that I would have been working with Triplekite Publishing in relation to the printing of this book, however due to logistical and time frame issues, I have had to alter the publishers for this book.  Although I certainly hope to work with Triplekite again in the future, I am very happy to announce that I will now be collaborating with the Kozu Books who are based near to Bath, England.

Greg Stewart - who owns and runs Kozu - and I worked together last year in bringing the first of a continuing range of small, affordable natural landscape books.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable process from start to finish, and one that I would encourage everyone to take part in if given the opportunity, However, it would be fair to say that 'Partition' will be the largest project yet for both of us.  Not only are the physical dimensions and quantities of the book going to be larger, but the importance of the book to current affairs is large too.




The plan for the book has been discussed and largely agreed upon, but this remains a fluid situation, where consultation between ourselves and others remains a constant factor.  However, it would be fair to say, that we are both on exactly the same wavelength and are very excited about what we are bringing.

The short term plans will certain upon logistics although a December release is still the date for everyone to note!  Further updates will appear between now and then and will also become more frequent.

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate about getting in touch.

Kind regards

John
















Thursday 14 January 2016

2016 - The year of 'Partition'

Good evening everyone, 

I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  I was hoping to get this post up over the festive period however the day job kept interrupting things - has a bad habit of doing that!  Not to worry.

The reason for this post is probably hinted at within the title - its basically some text to give you an update on the status of the project.

Firstly, the photographs.  I am on course with the timeline that I had in mind in the infant stages of the project.  The work is 65% complete and will be finished by the summer of this year.  In truth, there are 4 photographs at two locations that I would like to complete again however I have factored these in to fresh locations.  The reason for these are down to user error (i.e. me!) however I knew this near the time and will be comfortably covered in upcoming trips.  The successful work has all been drum scanned, with exceptional results gained.  This was the initial batch and its fair to say that the work has increased in quality since.

My most recent trip covered some of the strongest work so far and I am very excited about what I hope is within the rolls of film.  As ever, only when I have the film in my hands will I be satisfied that I have managed to do the scene justice.  The next trip will occur in the next 8 weeks too.



The exhibition has now been booked and will be held within the Ulster Hall in Belfast for the entirety of December 2016.  The opening days of the exhibition will also contain a presentation by myself along with workers within the community and interface projects.  Academics will also be invited to engage with this side of things too.  The remaining images from the exhibition will be given to a Belfast based peace consultancy service that have been supportive of the project throughout.  It is hoped that the images can remain within the community to support and highlight the positive steps that have been made within Belfast but also to encourage further effort.

In the short term, details regarding the book will be decided - I hope to announce the plan with that after my next trip.  I'll also have a little taster of the the most recent work.  Overall, the project is well on-course with the schedule initially set.  The excitement and commitment within myself to make the project succeed has only increased as the project continues.

As promised, here is a new piece of work from the project: