Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week photographic exhibition at Eden Place Arts Centre

Derry’s Eden Place Arts’ Centre in Pilots’ Row community centre in the Bogside is hosting a photographic exhibition titled: Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week.

It features a series of remarkable images by documentary photographer, Clodagh O’Leary, from County Kerry, taken at bonfires in the Bogside and Creggan over the past two years.

Speaking to The Derry News in the exhibition space, Clodagh explained she was fascinated by and loved photographing “anything to do with Ireland and its fading traditions and culture - things you wouldn’t find elsewhere”. She was particularly drawn to horse fairs. 

Explaining why she came to Derry and ended up photographing its young bonfire builders, Clodagh said: “In the last couple of years, I feel there has been a revival of Irish identity, in terms of the Irish language or Republicanism - for better or worse. 

“You have people using it in a far-right way but you also have people doing it in a really lovely way and supporting Palestine,” she added.

“I got interested in how diffuse the word ‘Republicanism’ is. I remember when I was doing photography, if it had to do with Republican events, people would say, ‘Be careful, you might look far-right’ but in my mind it is of the left. 

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There wasn’t an end goal in mind when I was coming to Derry and photographing events. I have a few friends in Derry and every time I come up here, I seem to have a good time. 

“The politics in Derry would be very progressive; it's a nice place to visit. I am into Irish history and Irish politics and the history in the city is very well represented. You learn a lot when you come up here. You develop your views more.

I came up for the Bloody Sunday weekend two years ago and I was walking around and seeing the murals and the environment and that led to the Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week,” said Clodagh. 

Clodagh got interested in how their environment shapes young people in Derry.

“With Derry being a Republican stronghold, I was talking to people who would be from the same area but have massively different views on things. Some young adults had very positive views of paramilitaries and others would have the opposite view, she said.

“Then I learned that even if their views were very different, generally they loved the bonfires.”

Recalling her first experience at a Bonfire, Clodagh said: “A young boy came up to me and his first question was, ‘Are you with the PSNI?’ 

“I found that striking, coming from Kerry as I do. In my upbringing, even though I consider myself Republican and would love to see a United Ireland, I would never, as a child, have distrusted an adult that came up to me. 

“I understand it is a complicated history here and I understand there is distrust of the PSNI but having a child asking me this and sort of implying ‘I’m not engaging with you if you are’ gave me pause for thought. 

Just walking around the city and seeing graffiti like ‘paedos out’ or ‘dealers shot’, I became intrigued about the environment people are growing up in; how that shapes them; and how different it is from nearly any other part of Ireland,” said Clodagh, who reflected that in Dublin, where she now lives, there was “almost indifference when conversations about Irish Unity come up”.

“I definitely didn’t think as deeply about things  when I was growing up and the young people I have met in Derry,” she mused.

“Often then there was a demonising of the young people in Derry. They were labelled as antisocial and this, that and the other. 

“But from my experience, I have found them to be very thoughtful and when you do give them the chance and they explain their situation, a lot of them might have had a family member that was mistreated by PSNI, paramilitaries or something that happened in history. It all makes more sense to you then.

“Through this project, I wanted to show their environment, why their need for carefulness. When I came back to Derry the second time, some of the young people chatted to my friend, journalist Caelainn Hogan.

“They articulated what the bonfires meant to them and what their hopes were for the future. In terms of a United Ireland, where would they like to see the country go and who would they vote for. To me it was sad that they felt they could trust no-one. They felt their communities were being mistreated by the PSNI and paramilitaries and it didn’t leave much hope for the future,” said Clodagh. 

The young people she spoke to told Clodagh one of the things they looked forward to was next year’s bonfire.

“I thought this was very striking,” said Clodagh, “as this year’s fire hadn’t even been lit up yet. 

“I am interested in the stories of the young people from the area. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll touch base with them again.”

For now, Clodagh is off to document the community involved with St Joseph’s Horse and Pony Club, in Finglas, in Dublin. 

The Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week exhibition runs on Wednesday and Thursday (February 5 and 6) from 10am to 8pm, and on Friday (February 7) from 10am to 2pm.