The Horse Hospital

The Bogside Artists

FREE DERRY COMES TO LONDON

September 8th - 4th October 2003, Mon - Sat 12 - 6

The Horse Hospital is honoured to present Northern Ireland’s The Bogside Artists.

The group, comprising of Tom Kelly, Kevin Masson and William Kelly, are famous for their murals in the area of Derry, Northern Ireland, known as Free Derry Corner. These large-scale murals explicitly depict key images of the Troubles in the city since 1968. This exhibition of their work is a chronicle of those events within the struggle that the artists consider to have been the most significant during the last thirty years.

Displayed in installation as vast 12 x 9 foot vinyl hangings of reproductions of the murals from photographs taken by Dr Martin Melaugh, the original murals were created as powerful re-presentations of a photographic moment of profound local symbolism, funded through donations of paint, supplies and door to door collections from the residents of the buildings they grace. Although the exhibition has toured widely throughout the world to great success, this is the first show in England for the artists, as the material has hitherto been seen as too delicate and controversial for exhibition within mainland Britain.

The works are a moving testament to the power of art as historical document; the importance of documentation within the history of art, and the power of art within society; a creative process that situates the past as something we must acknowledge within the present, and from which we can draw strength.

"We do not play down the contextual significance that lends itself to the work. Neither are we militant propagandists, tribal fantasists or proponents of the us-versus-them delusion that is still causing such evils around the world." Tom Kelly, Kevin Masson and William Kelly : The Bogside Artists.

For further details of the exhibition, information or photos,
please contact James B.L. Hollands

( 020 ) 7833 3644
THE HORSE HOSPITAL COLONNADE BLOOMSBURY LONDON WC1N 1HX
popculture@thehorsehospital.com
www.thehorsehospital.com

For further information on Northern Ireland and the work of The Bogside Artists, please see the superlative site
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bogsideartists/
and
www.bogsideartists.com