Representation on the Experience of Suffering in Urban Space: Wall Murals in Belfast

The purpose of this presentation is to show how hostility and empathy have been expressed in post conflict Northern Ireland society by using an analytical framework of visual data in sociology.

Visual culture has been widely argued in various disciplines. Although many disciplines in human sciences have effectively analyzed visual representations, my focus here is to apply a sociological method of urban studies on the analysis of the visual representation.

My research interest is to examine the collective consciousness and memories of two communities where their identities have been in part shaped by the images and icons shared in their communities. To do so, I will deal with and discuss wall paintings in Belfast. Mural can be seen as a community medium (Rolston 1998), since the approval of the community is needed in order for a mural to exist in the community for a long time.

My focus is on production, circulation and reception of murals in the urban space. In particular, I will look at the emplacement of murals in order to assess the positioning of each image in community.

The points that have been revealed in this study are 1) Making use of images from famous pictures, murals on national histories usually express confrontation and tend to be located along main roads in the communities, 2) Remembering the dark side of the history of their communities is considered to be expressed (not covered up) in both communities, although some of them are usually seen in residential areas, 3) “Empathy” between the two communities can be seen when they deal with the experience of sufferings under the authority.