Doctoral College
Summary
The proposed project takes as its starting point the paintings of English artists Rita Donagh and Ralph Lillford, both of whom made work directly related to Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. Crucially, Lillford had made regular visits to Belfast during this time, contrasting to Donagh’s relatively distanced approach, thus raising questions about the necessary proximity required for an artist to effectively and meaningfully respond to the events their work addresses.
At this same time, artists based here were also responding directly to the political and social unrest, and in 1993 the Doubleband Films documentary ‘The Trouble With Art’ brought focus to Northern Irish artists dealing with the social and political conditions of their time. As a result, the film revealed a more direct and embedded approach to artistic production, with those featured commenting on the commitment and effort required to being an artist in Northern Ireland. Twenty-sev