70th Anniversary Of The Somme

On the left of the lightning bolt are the soldiers of the 36th Ulster division (U.V.F.) R.I.R (Royal Irish Rifles) on the western front in 1916; on the right are “UVF prisoners of war, Long Kesh”.

This mural/A similar mural is described by Billy Hutchinson (in his 2011 piece “Transcendental Art“) as being painted in the compounds of Long Kesh: “My favourite mural was one inspired by the British anti-war poet, Siegfried Sassoon. Suicide in the Trenches depicts a UVF volunteer split down the middle by a bolt of lightning. Half of him depicts a 36th Ulster Division soldier under heavy fire in a rainsoaked WW1 trench. The other half shows a ’70s volunteer incarcerated behind barbed wire and over-shadowed by watch towers.” Hutchinson also describes the importance of the Orange Cross welfare organisation in selling prisoner art produced inside the prison.

Craven Street, Belfast.

M00560

Copyright © 1988 LC