“In Northern Ireland,” says Pablo Cristi (MFA 2010), “everything is overtly political. If you want to know what a large percentage of the people think, read the walls.”

Anyone involved in cultural production today -- but especially those in public art -- hope more than anything that their work will be noticed and elicit meaningful audience reactions. In the case of a commissioned mural painted by Cristi and a few collaborators in Derry, Northern Ireland, the work fueled a vivid public debate. When petitions start circulating, well -- there’s your noticeable and meaningful reaction. And while the experience certainly put Cristi in the hot seat for a few tense weeks, he also deeply valued the public discussion and dissent motivated by the project.

Artists Collaborate

Cristi was one of four American artists -- the others were Sidd Joag (New York), Ernel Martinez (Philadelphia), and Man One (Los Angeles)—invited to Derry to do the mural commission and lead a series of classes and workshops in four different communities, each of which then had its own additional mural project. The Playhouse Derry-Londonderry organized their activity as part of an urban arts program called the What If? Project, which is part of a three-year initiative funded by the European Union Regional Development Fund called the International Culture Arts Network (ICAN). ICAN’s ambition is to bring “world-renowned artists to the counties at the interface of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic” in order to “bridge barriers between current and formerly conflicted areas worldwide.”

A Political Welcome Sign

In the first week the group was asked to paint the Free Derry wall, installing a temporary mural on top of a regional monument with an extremely important local significance. Throughout decades of riots and unrest, a mural stating “You are now entering Free Derry” has survived there. It was originally painted in 1969, when the ethno-political unrest known as the Troubles were igniting, and was inspired by a similar slogan (“You are now entering Free Berkeley”) that appeared around the UC campus at the height of the contemporaneous free-speech movement. It is on the gable end of a house in the Bogside, a majority-Catholic neighborhood that borders the majority-Protestant Fountain neighborhood.

Cristi recalls, “We were asked to do something that was difficult to do in an extremely short amount of time. With limited supplies, as our paint order got lost. We weren’t totally sure how to feel about this great honor, and we knew we were treading on thin ice. The only instructions were that the new mural had to retain the original slogan. So we discussed (over a Guinness of course) what to paint. Because they asked us specifically to broaden people’s horizons about muralism, we wanted to give some sort of ‘universality’ to it. We decided to paint a nebula, the birthplace of stars and a center of energy, because of its relationship to the 1960s, civil rights movements, Berkeley, progressive thought, and revolution.”

Mural Stirred Locals

The four set to work on the project. “It definitely needed explaining; it wasn’t obvious at first sight for everyone. The first step involved masking the original mural and painting the wall black. People told us that this had never happened in the past, and it was clear from the comments of passersby that it was a BIG deal. The community is very used to reading murals for their symbolism and specific use of colors, so a black wall had great significance -- maybe too much significance. Between hours of work and lots of explaining and talking to community members, people started to understand what we were doing and were mostly supportive. It was three weeks in fast forward.”

Local Coverage

(Two articles in the Derry Journal (1) (2) and one in Inside Ireland commented on the mural project.)

Local Muralists Protest

A group of local muralists, angered in part that ICAN had chosen to bring in international artists rather than arrange (another) local intervention, started a protest on Facebook that gained momentum in the local press. But “despite some small threats and mucho media attention,” Cristi concludes, “we kept on with our plan and ultimately accomplished one major goal through that wall: to have the people of Derry talk about the significance of the wall within the community: who ‘owns’ it, and who has the right to make changes to it.”

Cristi’s time in Derry happened to coincide with the weekend of an annual bonfire competition between neighborhoods and also a Loyalist/Protestant march through the center of town. Tensions increased, and the protest turned into a mini-riot. The temporarily transformed Free Derry wall stands directly on the main plaza that was occupied during the protest and it witnessed, as it has in the past, petrol bombs and thrown rocks. “The protest didn’t last through the night,” Cristi explains, “but it left a long-lasting impression on me. Walking around the next day, I noticed how the town had been cleaned up (except for a piece of melted car that I brought home with me), leaving a strange feeling of serenity. We were relieved that things had calmed down and that we were able to get back to work.”

Back in the Bay Area

You can see some of Cristi’s work at Bernal Heights Recreation Center, where he recently completed a mural with his teen club, and he has been invited to create an expanded version of Chico and Chang, which he presented at Intersection for the Arts in summer 2011, at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art in summer 2012.

Related Links:

Pablo Cristi’s blog

Christina Linden is a writer and curator based in Oakland.