Belfast: City of Lines
An exhibition of visual research materials, exploring the lives and afterlives of Northern Ireland’s ‘peace walls’.
Since 2023, I have worked on creating an exhibition of visual materials from my research on British security policy in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’.
This exhibition explores the lives and afterlives of so-called ‘peace walls’ built by British military and governmental actors in Northern Ireland from 1969 onwards. The exhibition incorporates photographs of the peace walls and of murals painted on them by communities through which they run - as well as data graphics visualising the walls’ effects for people’s movement around Belfast.
I’ve shared this exhibition via three separate showcases: at the Chimney House and Winter Gardens in Sheffield in November 2023; the British International Studies Association’s CTS conference in Sheffield in September 2024; and the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent in July/August 2025.
Across these three showcases, over 33,000 people have had the opportunity to access and engage with my research on the peace walls. With each showcase, I have also hosted public lectures, walking tours, seminars, and art workshops - where participants have created their own artworks reflecting on the history, politics, and continuing legacies of the peace walls.
When surveyed, 75% of exhibition viewers say the materials have changed their understandings and awareness of Britain’s involvement in Troubles violence. And 100% say the exhibition has encouraged them to find out more about the peace walls.
I have created this page to make the exhibition materials more widely available.
The page provides a virtual gallery space where you, too, can access and engage with my research. Click on each of the icons below to access one of the ‘chapters’ of the exhibition, as formatted in its Royal Engineers Museum showcase.
