LIGHTING UP THE MURALS (photos courtesy of Bill Pribyl).

A victory of common sense over idiotic, political gamesmanship.

In August last year 2010 we were invited to paint a mural for the outside of Dafen museum in Shenzhen, China. We kept the visit top secret because we knew if the word got out certain people at home would do their damnest, as they had done so often in the past, to sink it. While there, we got to meet some very famous muralists from all over the world. They held us in the highest esteem and knew of our work. They wondered who supported us and what protection was given to the murals. They were appalled of course when we told them what we had to contend with from the very people you would think would be first to help preserve the murals that are so vitally important to the economic welfare of the city, viz, the Arts Council of N.Ireland and The N.Ireland Tourist Board. We told them about DCAL too that promotes the arts in Northern Ireland and our obvious marginalization by that crew and about the fact that the only significant funding we ever received came from Europe, the EEC and, some time ago, from our own city council, or at least one department of it that could act unimpeded on our behalf.

Things have changed since then but we still look to the EEC for funding. These muralists, many of them dedicated painters, found it difficult to believe what we were saying and when we pointed out that their idol "Banksy" very likely derived his entire game from our work and our manifesto we had the feeling we had lost our audience. You can read in depth how we actually got on from the "China and Us" link left.

In any case, when we got home we could see clearly what had been happening to us. The dumbing down of the Bogside and our murals and us with them became too painfully obvious to be ignored. The government had pledged seven years before to illuminate the murals. It was now evident to us that many politicos were never in favour of lighting up the murals in the first place, even though they had voted for it. Thus, for political reasons and no other, politicians across the board copt out. And the decision concerning the murals, it was agreed, should be left firmly to the passing of time and hopefully the erosion of the elements. We saw clearly, for the first time, that we had act.

It is nothing less than astonishing to us that public servants, whatever their political creed, especially those in the arts, can pick up their paychecks month after month while entertaining the conviction that nothing worthwhile can come from the people they supposedly represent. If you want an artist you have to go to London or elsewhere. If you are called Stokolwski and not Doherty, Federico and not Jimmy, have had one show in Madrid instead of ten in Newry, then you are in. It's that bad. And if you think we are making this up, check out ILEX'S website. Read it all to get the drift. Ilex - the Elect of Allah - (their origins are utterly obscure to us) - are in charge of Derry's "cultural regeneration", something they thought up all by themselves... or so they've led us to believe. The "model" is likely out there somewhere. Is that what the people pay you to do? The people who elected you and put you in office, who give you a portion of their income to look after their interests and those of their children? When the British Arts Council need to commission an artist for some arty project or other, do they send an envoy over to Derry? Do they phone up Declan McGonagle, mysteriously appointed and uncontested art guru for the city, to recommend a Derry artist to them?

The worst of it is this; thousands of people from all over the world come to Derry to see our murals and meet with the slum proletariats who painted them.... us. But, that isn't good enough. If you want to know about The Bogside Artists you have to talk to Moriarty and his gang. Says who? Moriarty, of course. Moriarty rules. Who the hell is Moriarty? Bogsiders have been asking that question for years. Well, it is the collective noun we give to all those who are actively engaged in suppressing us and our work and tramping all over our basic democratic rights. Simple. They exist. We have known them for years. We can even give you their names. They know what they are about. They know who they are. They are legion... and they are dangerous. They are reading this. They think they are something, hence Moriarty, a cut above the rest. Moriarty is as sick in the head as a flock of pigeons over Fukushima.

It goes without saying that we take a great risk in lighting the murals and firmly give the edge to Moriarty and his buddies. But, what else can we do? The Bogside is officially designated a tourist site, ergo protected and under the supervision of elected representatives. If you were foolish enough to decide some day to upgrade a similar, public feature, let us say, repainted the Craigavon Bridge at your own expense on the humane basis that it is a necessary public amenity and needs a facelift, it is conceivable you may be arrested for vandalism but what judge is going to find you guilty? You would more likely be referred to the nearest lunatic asylum to be treated for irrationally unnecessary service to your fellow man.

We did what the powers-that-be pledged, ratified, "signed off" they 'would' do and DID NOT.

Those faceless, Belfast bureaucrats indeed, responsible for stalling the lighting in the first place.... for seven long years.... should be a matter for public investigation in our view. Derry deserves an explanation at least, does it not? But in the case of lighting The People's Gallery there is a deeper explanation that goes way beyond mere incompetence or unprofessionalism and spills over into high-power political gamesmanship. Instead of making applications to the UN to establish the Bogside as a world heritage site, salaried control-freaks sit back and hope it will all disintegrate and be forgotten irrespective of the fact that it brings thousands of tourists into the city each year. The "walled city" brings nobody. And yet the "walled city" as a marketing project has received millions to keep it going while the singular most important art commemoration of over three decades of unrepeatable civil conflict - the murals - are relegated to a sideshow. You may take it that the oncoming 2013 art extravaganza called "Derry UK City of Culture" leaves them all facing their worst dread - that the so-called 'sideshow' may very likely become the central focus of attention. Moriarty's buddies in the Northern Ireland Tourist Board won't like that one little bit.The "walled city" is their baby and they have been given millions to promote it. Here you can get their outpourings on the subject - The Walled City. It makes for fascinating reading. We get a mention in links. How big of them! Bear in mind that as you read this is supposedly about CULTURE in N.Ireland and we who envisioned,created and painted the biggest tourist attraction in the City are scarcely mentioned on their website and our murals not at all. If you take the trouble to explore the NITB website you will be appalled at the deliberate omission of the murals and their undoubted significance to tourism in Derry. The game is to window-dress the "walled city" so that our recent history and the Bogside in general do not become a focus of what is clearly conceived to be unmerited attention by supplying a plethora of alternative attractions. They have countless millions to pull it off. But will it work? Our lighting of the murals has put a spanner in the works. They expected it but didn't think it would happen.

To offset this 'nightmare scenario' of The People's Gallery becoming a major focus for tourists a number of distractions calling themselves "art projects" are already in the pipeline, commissioned in the main from foreign artists, whose singular purpose will be to draw tourists away from the Bogside and away from the murals that define it as a tourist attraction. Moriarty's agenda will not change much, merely be stepped up a few gears. It will be to upstage the murals by fair means or foul, with brush and laser, internet and media warfare, defamation and cunning. Above all with MONEY. Take it from us... The People's Gallery is their problem. That is why they never mention it by name - "The People's Gallery". It might catch on. It is the thorn in their side, a pain that grows exponentially the more attention and critical acclaim we or our murals receive. Moriarty therefore will stop at nothing to discredit us for that reason alone. He has until 2013 to get a model to work from.

It is their problem because they have made it a problem when the smart thing would have been from the start to consider what The Bogside had to offer and build on that! But, who really calls the shots in Derry, or Northern Ireland for that matter? We are caught up in a David and Goliath situation. The People's Gallery, unmarketed, unpromoted, surviving against all the odds on the income of a pizza delivery boy, versus the might of the two-headed monster of The Derry UK City of Culture 2013 and "walled city" marketing combo, whose gallant crews now have squillions to play around with. Makes you sick doesn't it? Or, if it doesn't, you need read no further.

We lit the murals up because we were left with no choice. We did so to preserve them and to give them back the significance that has been banished from the Bogside in toto as a nationally important and historical site. The People's Gallery is Derry's Taj Mahal. We know this because we painted them and know better than anyone what has gone into making them and what they mean. We have even written a book to explain it all even if Moriarty made sure not a single editor in Ireland or the UK reviewed it. The least we can expect is that they are acknowledged as such and protected. It is criminal negligence on the face of it not to do so. In that regard, we have successfully made amends for a crime already committed, not just against us and our work, since we are well used to that, but against the people of the Bogside whose story we have told. We,The Bogside Artists, have done the morally right thing in our view, against people who clearly do not know what morals are, or professional ethics for that matter. Moreover, we are still here.