Human rights and peace with justice advocate Francie Broderick shares photos of political murals in Belfast and Derry and helps put them in context. While there have been literally thousands, they change over time reflecting whatever issue is current and pressing and originate in the heart of the working class neighborhoods created by local groups and individual artists. The most famous are in the Derry City Bogside and are collectively called The People’s Gallery.
During the height of the conflict, British soldiers would fire plastic bullets at the works in progress and throw buckets of paint on the murals. Broderick concentrates on murals painted in nationalist areas for this presentation. Mural content changed over time from plastic bullets, hunger strike, solidarity with other struggles, rise of sinn fein, to the peace process.
Broderick’s connection to this topic includes regular visits to the north of Ireland between 1981 and 1998, where she stayed with families of political prisoners and members of Sinn Fein, including visits to Long Kesh/Maze Prison. In the U.S., she was CoChair of Saoirse USA, a group working to recognize former Irish Republicans imprisoned in the U.S. or facing deportation or extradition as having been involved in “political offenses” (rather than criminal or terrorist). Broderick compiled bios on all former prisoners being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department, laying out their cases for asylum or change of status, and testified before a Congressional Subcommittee on the topic at the same time the “peace process” was underway in Ireland.
Many of the photographs Broderick will share in the presentation are from her own collection and those of friends. She traveled to Belfast when President Clinton went to highlight his support for the peace process and met with key figures involved in the process. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, her associations have been informal with relatives, friends, and former comrades in this process.
Beyond her work on the Irish conflicts, Broderick’s career spanned 40 years in community mental health, with a focus on the most seriously disabled with multiple co-occurring diagnoses and developing supported housing. Much of her time was spent as Executive Director of Places for People. After retiring in 2012, she helped start Gateway Housing First, a supported housing organization that pioneered harm reduction housing in Missouri. Now most of her time is spent in her local food pantry.
