Bogside Muralists, Derry, Ireland
www.bogsideartists.comTom Kelly, his brother William, and Kevin Hasson are the three men who created and painted all of the twelve murals that form the internationally acclaimed
The People’s Gallery® Their artwork represents the Bogside, its history, its spirit and its people; and many thousands of people come to Derry each year to hear the history of the ‘troubles’ and to see the celebrated street of murals in the Bogside. Painted from photographic material these are the most authentic renditions possible of the events depicted and acclaimed by many critics and writers as “art of the highest order”.
The murals of The People’s Gallery stretch in a line the entire length of Rossville Street in the Bogside area of Derry that experienced the worst of the troubles throughout the long conflict. Their unique gallery of murals was envisioned and created by the three men universally acclaimed as The Bogside Artists. As their spokesman Tom explains; “A wound must be cleaned out and examined before it will heal. It is the unexamined wound that festers and finally poisons. Our work shows the wounds.” (words from Bishop Desmond Tutu) This determination to tell their own story is what drives Tom, Kevin and William. They bear living witness to a prolonged period of social conflict that will be remembered always.