Political Wall Murals in Belfast, Northern Ireland

As a visitor to Northern Ireland, I found the political wall murals in places like Shankill frightening. With a limited knowledge of "The Troubles" I thought these murals were "gang graffiti" from masked gunmen of the IRA. I soon found out that both sides of the story could be told in these murals. I will do a semiotic reading on a Loyalist and a Nationalist mural.

The first mural's signifier was a painted mural on a wall in Shankill. The signified included a pair of red hands in manacles with a broken chain; barbwire and a prison wall; a prison watchtower; a red hand with barbwire around it; a red hand (with an open palm) inside a U.D.A. banner with "Quis Separabit" written underneath; "Release East-Belfast's Loyalist Prisoners" written on the prison wall; blue sky with clouds; "We forget them not-L.P.A." written in sky; and "Consolidate the Peace" written above sky.

The connotations for this mural are: jailbreak, freedom, strong prisoners, suffering (barbwire and manacles), hope (blue sky), dignity (banners), and surveillance (watchtower). The preferred reading is: freedom, hope, end of suffering, jailbreak, and strong prisoners. There is consensus on this mural in Northern Ireland-where Loyalists make up the majority.

The second mural's signifier is a painted mural on a wall in Shankill. The signified includes: three soldiers in tan uniforms walking away from us down a road (with a sign that says England) towards the sea. A Union Jack flag is sticking out of one of the soldier's rucksacks. There are balloons and a banner above the soldiers that says "SLAN ABHAILE." The bottom of the mural says "Time for Peace Time to Go." The sky is red at the top of the mural and white towards the sea.
The possible connotations for this mural are: journey, tiredness (of the soldiers), going home, parade, celebration, and expulsion. The preferred meanings are celebration and expulsion of the soldiers. I think there is consensus on this in both communities. The Nationalists don't want to be ruled by British troops and the Loyalists would rather handle violence from The Troubles on their own. All of Northern Ireland agrees that it is "Time for Peace."

According to the lecture on Representation and Semiotics, the connotations I got from the signified on the murals were mostly meanings that had become hegemonic. These were also most of the preferred meanings. The connotations were not innocent or objective. They told me what to think of the mural by the use of power at the connotation level ("Rhetoric of the Image", p.19 ). The signifieds directed me towards a meaning chosen in advance ("Rhetoric of the Image", p.20). It was impossible to look at these murals, as an alien, even though I am not from Ireland.
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*Barthes, Roland, "The Rhetoric of the Image", in Ann Gray and Jim McGuigan, Studying Culture: an Introductory Reader (London: Edward Arnold, 1993) p.19-20.