Women’s voices often go unheard, in particular those from disadvantaged areas. A unique photographic project, spearheaded by Ulster University and Shankill Women’s Centre, has sought to combat this by giving women from the Tigers Bay and New Lodge areas of North Belfast a way of highlighting issues that continue to affect their regions of the post-conflict city.
Following the launch of the ground-breaking photobook in 2015 “Women’s Vision from Across the Barricades”, a follow-up was launched late last year. Entitled “Women’s Vision in Transition”, through a series of powerful images, the photobook starkly conveys the progress that has been made and contrasts that with the steps that have yet to be taken. Both projects were funded by The Executive Office Greater North Belfast Good Relations, the Community Relations Council and the Centre for Media Research at Ulster University.
Ulster University lecturer Dr Jolene Mairs Dyer has carried out extensive research on collaborative documentary filmmaking and visual practice in post-conflict societies, particularly in post-agreement Northern Ireland. Having met Eileen Weir, who is based in Shankill Women’s Centre and is the co-ordinator of the Greater North Belfast Women’s Network, in 2014, she explains that the project originated from an attempt to unite women from interface areas in a bid to highlight the socio-economic issues still affecting those parts of the city, two decades after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
“The first photobook was really an attempt to bring women together from interface areas to create common socio-economic goals or outcomes that they would like to see happen within their area, around issues such as housing, education, employment and women’s services,” she explains. The original 2015 photobook is held in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast and in the Tate Britain's Library and Archives in London as part of their prestigious photobook collection.
Mairs Dyer worked with women from both areas on photography skills, such as framing, composition and storytelling. But a picture is worth a thousand words, and this was not just another photography project, she notes.
We wanted to literally make visible and audible women's voices, especially working-class women's voices
“The women used the photobook as a lobbying tool to help achieve their aims. They gave it to local politicians and members of the legislative assembly – it was a tangible way of showing them, this is what women are saying, this is what grassroots communities are saying.” Weir confirmed that “every politician in North Belfast got that book”. The group even managed to present a copy to Northern Ireland’s First Minister. Weir stated: “I gave it to her; and I put ‘trust women’ on the front of it.”
The 2020 follow-up photobook was due to launch with a photographic exhibition, but this was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. Its online launch has been well-received, however, says Mairs Dyer. A series of before and afters, the book clearly depicts which of the desired outcomes of the original project had been achieved in the interim half decade – and those which have been largely ignored. Its cover image cleverly contrasts a typical Tiger’s Bay cul de sac with the looming Harland and Wolff cranes and the relatively recent Titanic Building. “There is a feeling that communities most affected by conflict have yet to directly benefit from the dividends of peace. Areas such as the Titanic Quarter, although close in geographical terms, couldn't be farther away in socio-economic terms and we wanted to show that,” Mairs Dyer explains.
“We call it ‘in transition’ because there’s still a bit of work to do. There were particular improvements in housing, for example; there were a lot of houses that were dilapidated or sitting unused, and there are now new builds. We can't say that that was directly because of the project, but what we did was create a sense of shared goals and objectives on socio-economic terms, rather than Protestant, Catholic, nationalist, republican, etc,” Mairs Dyer explains.
The photographs offer a visual representation of the needs of this community and provide tangible evidence that all is not always what it seems. Mairs Dyer points out that Tigers Bay is less than five miles away from the modern tourist hub that is the multi-million pound Titanic Quarter. “Perhaps the dominant public narrative is that of new-capitalist Belfast, where everything is presented as being fine and shiny and new.
But we were making the point that it was communities such as Tigers Bay and New Lodge that bore the brunt of the consequences of the conflict, particularly in socio-economic terms. Unless there is some kind of feeling within these communities that they have benefited from the dividends of the peace process, then feelings of discontent are likely to bubble up again, as we are now seeing in the Brexit context,” Mairs Dyer admits. “In reality, progress probably has been limited in terms of structural changes – there are still peace walls, segregated communities, and segregated education.”
One of the project’s participants stated the book played an essential role in highlighting, ‘where two communities meet. Where money seems to be invested in tourism and nothing is really being invested that much within the communities that actually bore the brunt of the conflict.’ Another stated, ‘Absolutely. There’s no transformation. There’s no benefit for us.’ Another confirmed that, ‘what (the books) highlight is the lack of transformation in Northern Ireland in certain areas. (…) Other places have been transformed but look what we’re (…) living in.’ Another said: ‘you can see the big buildings (…) in the mist (but) this is unobtainable from Tigers Bay and New Lodge. It’s not even a mile away when you’re looking across the loch.’ Another further participant stated: ‘I think (the photobooks) show what our areas are like. We showed how near Titanic Quarter is and the jobs and (drew attention to the urgent need for) women’s services and youth services.’
They felt a real sense of achievement that they had come together to produce something that was publicly seen and acknowledged
As the project continues, Mairs Dyer and Weir say they would like to see a growing emphasis on women’s services such as education and childcare. A community and family centre right at the edge of the interface has been left derelict, and this would be central to providing these kinds of supports and programmes.
Meanwhile, there is a women’s centre in West Belfast but no equivalent in North Belfast.
Yet Mairs Dyer believes that the main impact of the project was on the participants themselves, who finally felt heard. “They felt a real sense of achievement that they had come together to produce something that was publicly seen and acknowledged. And that has had some impact.” It was “an honour” to work with the women involved, she adds.
One participant said: ‘I did see a bit more of (our) self-esteem rising because (we) felt that (we) were doing something to make a difference.’ The group as a whole highlighted both the personal and broader civic impact of the project in that they ‘felt (they) were doing something for the community.’
Empowering these women will be crucial as these communities fight to have their say, says Weir and Mairs Dyer, who hope to continue the collaboration into the future.
Weir stated: “for ordinary women who are trying to improve their community and who do not have their voices heard - that is my job - to get womens’ voices heard. I believe we achieved that as a collective by doing those books because they can’t silence those books.”
Mairs Dyer confirmed: “We wanted to literally make visible and audible women's voices, especially working-class women’s voices, which are absent from local power structures and decision-making forums. That was a key aim of the project, to make their voice and their vision visible, and to bring that into the public sphere. We wanted to show that that voice has value and has got something to say.”
Download a PDF of the Women’s Vision in Transition photobook