Nina Olivetti in Northern Ireland

Goodbye Belfast Exposed

2008-06-06T08:18:00.001-07:00

Today I said my final goodbyes to Belfast Exposed. Pauline was there in the morning but left early to go on a vacation to Greece, so her assistant whom I haven't met before, Anna, guided Steph and I with our time at BE today. We continued our project of organizing past literature on Belfast Exposed for the scrapbook. By completing this project, reflecting on the conversations I have had with the staff members at Belfast Exposed, listening to the lectures that are presented to us, and by browsing through the archives, I have put together some final thoughts about what kind of place Belfast Exposed is and what its place is in Northern Ireland.

Something that I hadn't been aware of until today by talking with Anna, is that Belfast Exposed hires a wide range of photographers in terms of talent. I was under the impression that Mervyn was the only photographer but she explained that BE hires the best of the best photographers but also gives local ones an opportunity as well. They do this to encourage local people to practice and improve their abilities to photograph their environment in order to understand things that are occurring around them. Although this would be the perfect concluding statement, I will say now that this really is the primary purpose of Belfast Exposed as a gallery and a photography outreach network.

In my own mind, events from the Troubles have been sodevastating and hard to deal with that sometimes it may be easier for people to repress their memories and thoughts, but most people know that this isn't a very effective healing mechanism. Art in general has been said by many to be a healer and Belfast Exposed attempts to allow photography to be a healer and to be open to all, with no requirements for participation. One could participate in the healing process or learning experience of BE either as a photographer, a trainee, or a viewer of the archives. As a photographer, one has the power to capture what he/she personally feels will help him/herself and the people of the community face the things that have happened in a positive, but honest way. Many times, facing and accepting the truth allows for progression and peace of mind. The photographer also has the power to influence the way people remember or think about what has happened. For example, in the photo from the BE archive that Chris Gilligan showed ouIn my own mind, events from the Troubles have been sor class of the small boy standing on the street with military vehicles in the background, this photographer wanted to show people that children were vulnerable and even manipulated, in the times of the Troubles. Another photographer that perhaps identified as a Catholic, could have taken a photograph of Protestant school children throwing things at a Catholic school girl, and with this would be trying to victimize the Catholics and make it seem like the Protestants were the offenders. That one is just a hypothetical example, but I want to emphasize that a lot of power lies in photographing a Northern Ireland community today and in the past. Today, a photographer could hypothetically take photos of a specific political party at work at Stormont, and if this party gets more exposure, it could appear that they are working harder or spending more time on the peace process than an opposing political party.

I haven't gone through anything remotely close to what most Northern Irelanders have gone through, but in terms of photography being a powerful record of the way things are remembered, even for me, looking back on old photographs can really evoke some emotional feelings. On a very basic level, an example of this for me, and for probably most people, would be looking at pictures of oneself as a baby or young child--this would be a reminder of an innocence that is gone. Another example could be looking at photographs of yourself with friends or a boy/girlfriend who/m are no longer in your life--this could produce either happy memories or be a sad reminder of a void in your life.

A trainee of the outreach workshops can "participate" as I am calling it, in the Belfast Exposed experience, in many of the same ways as the photographer. A trainee is exposed to the archives and the gallery and is taught the technicalities of the art of photography and also learns how to form coherent and meaningful thoughts about a community's environment. This is really important for a photographer, because a photograph is not just a click of a button and a reproduction of a certain setting, but must be carefully thought out and have meaning.

The guests at the Belfast Exposed gallery and the online viewers also benefit and participate in this organization. I've already alluded to this, but viewing the archives can evoke many positive and probably a few negative feelings in people. They can be an uncomfortable reminder, insight into unfamiliar territory or a learning experience for foreigners or young children, or an acceptance and progression towards peace of mind. Viewing the archives and the gallery exhibitions can be for pure artistic enjoyment as well.

During our brief chat with Anna, she also explained that art hasn't gotten very much funding in Northern Ireland until recently and photography as an art has been the least funded of all the arts. Apparently Belfast Exposed is the only community photography initiative in Northern Ireland and is now primarily supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and by Belfast City Council's Culture and Arts Unit. Because Belfast Exposed is the only one of its kind in this country, it is no wonder how important its existence is. Honestly, I was surprised at how many people stop by the gallery in interest, because from my experiences in the States, I was under the impression that on a day to day basis, smaller galleries aren't very popular. However, after speaking with the staff members and learning about Belfast Exposed as a space in Belfast by spending time there, I can definitely see the attraction to this very unique and interesting place.

Art and Naked Ambition

2008-06-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday at Belfast Exposed, because Steph and I only had two days left, we took the initiative to find Pauline to ask her for something meaningful to help with. In response to our request, she gave us a project to do that she and the other staff members at BE have been procrastinating for several years. The project required us to go through boxes of old advertisements of Belfast Exposed, invitations to gallery openings, and reviews and newspaper/magazine articles about BE and organize them chronologically to ultimately put into scrapbook form.

Because my dad is the director of an art gallery at Susquehanna University and I receive copies of all of his gallery opening invitations, I enjoyed looking through the Belfast Exposed ones and found the comparisons between their's and my dad's to be interesting. Surprisingly they were not too different from the ones I have seen in the states--they had the name of the upcoming exhibition, dates and times, and several images or a design from the exhibition. For example, an exhibition titled The English in Northern Ireland, containing photographs of English people coming to Northern Ireland for various reasons, had on the front a picture of the Clash in Belfast in 1977 and the title and date information on the back.

While browsing through and organizing these materials, Steph and I came across a magazine called The British Journal of Photography-The Professional's Weekly. By reading this issue, I got the impression that this magazine features different themes of photography as well as provides space for camera advertisements. This specific issue's theme was Naked Ambition-the cover story being Andreas Bitesnich's Fabulous Nudes. This story explored this photographer's work of nudity and the types of techniques and technology he uses. A spread that Steph and I found in the magazine completely astonished me--it was a photograph of a glamour model that I personally have met and corresponded with! As many of my friends and family know, I am an aspiring model and I was fortunate enough in my process to have met with and gotten advice from model Alina Locklear. Alina, from the Dominican Republic, currently lives in New York City and founded and runs a fitness modeling agency. The only times I have seen photographs of her as a model was while purposely searching her name on the internet so coming across a magazine photograph of her by accident was surprising and I of course felt special because I had had personal contact with her. I was not only surprised to see an official photograph of a model I have personally interacted with though--seeing this photograph caused me to reflect on the kinds of art I have been exposed to since I have been in Northern Ireland.

As students studying the Conflict, we have been exposed to lots of murals and photographs that pretty much all have very devastating and deep meanings. Northern Irelanders--Catholics and Protestants alike--have gone through great turmoil in the arduous battles between the two groups and have experienced intense loses for quite some time now and this has definitely manifested in the art in Northern Ireland. Many murals and photographs, for example, show people wounded from Bloody Sunday, or children innocently standing in front of military vehicles--something that a lot of people feel a child should never be exposed to. Admittedly, I haven't been to any other art galleries in Northern Ireland besides Belfast Exposed or any art museums so I can't say that all of the art in this country hides deep, desolate meaning, but what I have been exposed to thus far definitely has.

Furthermore, seeing a photograph of a glamorous model (and I must inform you as a reader, that glamour modeling usually entails a bit of nudity and Alina was indeed nude in this photo) almost reminded me that although Northern Ireland has had many "Troubles", there still exists the same kind of art and photography that can be found in any other country. Although it was a British magazine, it was interesting and meaningful that an ad for Belfast Exposed, which has archives of 150,000 fairly depressing photographs, is found in the same magazine as art taking the form of a nude photograph of a woman. This possibly could be an example of how Northern Ireland is calming down in terms of the Conflict and violence and how people can relax more now and enjoy many forms of art. There is a fashion industry, there are ads in magazines of international models, there exist somewhere here light-hearted photographs, and I am sure there are museums with artwork from our good old friends Picasso, DaVinci, and Dali. At times, Northern Ireland can seem so different from say, the United States, when really it is more like the US than it is not.

This type of realization and eye-opening experience came from the small task of browsing through old newspaper articles and literature about Belfast Exposed and this really shows me how much there is to learn about a place that would not seem very obvious at first. I can safely say that trying to find deeper meaning in these seemingly ordinary things has caused me to be a more curious individual and to believe that there is always more to learn!

A Journey From Derry to Belfast

2008-06-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today at Belfast Exposed, Pauline and Mervyn had planned for Steph and me to help take down the Migration exhibition but when we got there, neither of them were in charge, or even present! Two other women that I have never met or seen before seemed to be in charge of taking down the exhibition--doing things like wrapping and packing the different television and DVD sets that were used to play the videos in the gallery and keeping track on paper of all the items. There were random chords, TVs, DVD players, other technical parts, bubble wrap, and boxes everywhere and there didn't seem to be any real method of packing everything. Deborah, one of the women in charge, appeared to me to be just walking around putting things in random places and had a hard time trying to explain to Steph and me what we were supposed to help with. It was one of those things where it was probably harder for Deborah to explain to us her "method" of de-installing the exhibition than for she and the other woman to continue doing it themselves. This was really frustrating to me because we basically were just standing around waiting for someone to give us something to do that made sense, and that never really happened.

This situation caused me to turn my attention of my blog for today away from Belfast Exposed, to the journey that I take there every day. Every morning after I awake, Steph and I briskly walk along Strand Road in Derry to get to the bus station. We have been having beautiful, sunny weather ever since we arrived in Derry, so this walk is always enjoyable and is a great way to start the day. Despite what I have said in previous blogs about people in Northern Ireland being very laid back and moving at a slower pace than people do in the States, I observe on these morning walks that Derry civilians seem to start their days early and appear to be very motivated and with places they need to be. Something that really surprised me is how many young kids ride the public (Ulster) bus to school every day. While waiting for the bus on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, there are always groups of children in uniforms very maturely buying their tickets and waiting for the correct bus. I use the word maturely because I am from a small town where most kids either rode to school in their parents' cars or were picked up from their own houses by the school bus and so these Derry children learn to be independent at a young age in my opinion. I must give credit, also, to the fact that the public transportation system in Northern Ireland is very highly developed and is a very ecological, European thing, so these children might not have a choice but to ride the bus. Further, I think Northern Irelanders specifically, really have their public bus transportation system figured out--there is a set schedule for each bus which is really easy to figure out and the buses always leave and arrive on time.

Because Steph and I travel to Belfast two times a week plus the times that our whole group goes there, I have become quite accustomed to the drive. Luckily, the buses are more comfortable and cleaner than the buses that I have ridden on in the United States. I find it pretty exciting to ride on the double decker buses, especially sitting on the top level because the amazing scenery is more visible.

In terms of driving through the countryside, the scenery sort of resembles that of Pennsylvania, where I am from, but is far more fascinating and beautiful. There is such a clear horizon with so many layers of mountains and fields, which paints a beautiful landscape. I have noticed that there are a way greater number of sheep in Northern Ireland than where I am from and I am aware that this country has a large wool industry. The sheep usually have some kind of paint on their wool--I'm assuming this helps the farmers separate them for certain reasons like shaving off their fur and feeding them. Ironically, there aren't as many shops in Northern Ireland as there could be with the amount of sheep here and this is because wool is a primary export in this country.

The bus from Derry to Belfast runs every 15 minutes, but even so, the bus is usually pretty full. Looking around me, I am always curious as to for what others are traveling to Belfast. There aren't usually children in uniform on this specific bus, but lots of elderly people and mothers with their babies. I can imagine that for a woman who primarily takes care of her child and for retired elderly people, getting out of Derry and taking a day trip to Belfast would be something exciting and pleasant to do. Going back to the fact that the buses are always punctual, I really appreciate how the bus stops very briefly at each stop--the people on the bus know exactly when their stop is and get off, and the people waiting for the bus get on and quickly find a seat, and the bus continues on its way--it's as simple as that.

After approximately an hour and 45 minutes, our bus arrives in Belfast. The Belfast bus stop is bigger and a little more modern and well-kept than the one in Derry. I thought it was very nice that most of the passengers on the bus thanked the bus driver while stepping off the bus. This type of behavior allows for a more personable atmosphere and illustrates a fairly friendly relationship between strangers, which I thought was sweet and which I haven't seen much of in the States.

Once off the bus in Belfast, Steph and I walk through the bus station and exit the doors nearest the Belfast Opera House. Walking to Belfast Exposed is always interesting to me because I love to people watch, and there are lots and lots of people in Belfast. I specifically notice peoples' clothing, because I have a strong interest in the fashion industry and modeling. Belfast has a lot of high end clothing stores that I pass, such as French Connection, Calvin Klein, and Giorgio Armani, which shows that there are definitely some wealthy people living in this city. Compared to Derry, Belfastians, both men and women, are very well dressed. I do realize, however, that this type of comparison can be made in a lot of countries. For example, in the States, New Yorkers are generally much better dressed than the people in a small town near me such as Mifflinburg. Another observation I have had of Belfast is that at any given hour, there are people out on the streets, having coffee, eating a meal, shopping, drinking a beer, etc. To me, this shows the diversity of schedules for different occupations and styles of life of the people living here, which is a typical trait for bigger cities. I have noticed that lots of people on the streets of Belfast take extra notice to Steph and me as we walk to Belfast Exposed--perhaps our clothing or our backpacks give us away as Americans or perhaps these people are just plain friendly and like to make eye contact with strangers.

I think that the relaxed atmosphere at Belfast Exposed is a small example of the general atmosphere of Belfast itself. The people do not seem too rushed or stressed out, and like I mentioned above, it's common for people to leisurely have a cup of coffee or a pint of beer at any time of the day. This city also seems to be very arty in that there are various art galleries and a gigantic Opera House, for example. This arty feel and Belfast's fashionable people, combined with the general laid-back attitude of everyone, makes for a very pleasant and interesting city.

Before I end my description of my journey to Belfast Exposed from Derry, I must mention the photograph at the end of this entry. For some odd reason, this construction label, located right outside of Belfast Exposed, has been forever imprinted into my mind. It has weirdly become a landmark and a memory of the appearance of Belfast.

Children as a Metaphor

2008-06-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

So far in Northern Ireland, I have enjoyed and felt the most fulfilled after the May 30th lecture by Chris Gilligan, who is a sociologist from Aston University. I really liked that he did not just stand in front of the room talking to us in a monotone voice, but rather how he led his discussion in a really intriguing way through visual images and media. More importantly however, another reason I personally enjoyed this lecture and could relate to it was because Professor Gilligan works with the Belfast Exposed archives and for this specific lecture, used images from the archives, many of which I have seen with my own eyes. Because of my personal experience with these images, I felt very engaged with what he was talking to us about and feel that I could really understand and be emotionally interested in the material more so than I could in other lectures.

Further, Professor Gilligan's theme of discussion was how children are a metaphor for the peace process in Northern Ireland and he outlined his discussion with three themes--vulnerability, innocence, and hope. At one point he mentioned how children and adults inhabit different worlds and stand for different things in the Conflict. He used a slide show on a data projector to show his images and used about four or five over and over to discuss and illustrate his different themes. In terms of children being expressed as vulnerable in the archives at Belfast Exposed, the photos he used as examples showed children alone and appearing small compared to other people or objects in the photos, such as the peace walls or military men. I am by no means a photographer myself so it was helpful for me to hear someone deeply analyze a photograph in specific terms and evoke different meanings than can be seen upfront.

In addition to being portrayed as vulnerable, according to Professor Gilligan, children are portrayed as innocent in the various photographs that he used in his lecture. One photo had a little boy holding a bottle, which is an obvious childish prop that illustrates innocence. The children in the photos all looked soft, described Gilligan, in their skin and clothing. The photographer of the photos in the Belfast Exposed archives (named Mervyn Smyth by the way), often took pictures of children with military men, which also showed the innocence of children. In one specific photo, there was a crowd of people holding dove cutouts, with a child in the center holding nothing. Gilligan explained that this exemplified childhood innocence in that a child is inherently innocent and need not hold or use anything to prove, show, or feel a sense of innocence.

Lastly, Professor Gilligan talked about children representing a hopeful future in the photographs. From what I gathered, all of his examples were based on the worldwide understanding/slogan that "Children are our future" and how we treat them and what we teach them will structure and form the future for all of us. Specific to the photos, Gilligan talked about the same photo with the little boy holding the bottle, but this time in terms of how he was in the foreground of the picture and the military men and vehicles were in the background. Because of this dynamic of the photo, it shows that the child is the future and the military men and vehicles in the back represent the past, thus the photo itself represents hope for a better and more peaceful future. Personally, I liked this photo the best because I fully understood the dynamic and the real message behind it and found it amazing that this kind of moving message can be found in a seemingly ordinary photo.

After discussing the three themes of children as a metaphor for the peace process in Northern Ireland, our speaker talked about how children have been manipulated in the whole peace process and Conflict. Parents have used their children as "political pawns" in certain political campaigns and protests. Many of the photographs that Gilligan showed us in addition to ones that I have looked at on my own at Belfast Exposed, have shown children holding signs that have very powerful messages specific to a certain political party. I found this incredibly shocking because I have never seen this type of thing in the States. I am obviously aware that the parents are the ones pushing their children to hold these signs, but I was still shocked because many kids my age don't even know what is going on politically in our country, let alone kids that are under ten years old! The parents, however, are not the only ones manipulating and using their children to prove a point or strengthen a campaign--the media is just as guilty of doing this, by taking pictures of the situation and publishing them. Now that I have briefly mentioned the media playing a part in manipulation, I must address that compared to the United States, the media's role in manipulation of the public is far less in my opinion.

I am not the most artistic person in the world, so I was fascinated with Professor Gilligan's presentation of children of the Conflict, specifically in terms of the media. Prior to hearing his lecture, I probably would not have picked up on or thought of the Conflict and photographs of children in the ways that he presented to us and it was enlightening and eye-opening to hear about the issues we have been learning about since we got here, in a new light. Once again, his use of images really allowed me to further understand and learn with more than one sense (hearing and sight) about different aspects of the Conflict, especially in terms of the media, which I don't feel I have been exposed to very much so far in my studies of the Troubles.

I am glad that I had the chance to hear Professor Gilligan speak about the Conflict and I am even more pleased that he spoke almost directly about my field placement at Belfast Exposed. Week three at BE looks like it will include, for Steph and I, taking down the Migration exhibition and putting up the Bonfire one, so stay tuned for my thoughts and experiences on the labor side of Belfast Exposed.

Belfast Exposed: Week 2 Continued

2008-06-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello from Belfast Exposed! I am currently sitting at the information desk in the gallery, continuing my research on deportation and Visa restrictions specific to artists. With this research I have learned about the difficulties that artists around the world face in terms of migrating to other countries, specifically Europe and the US to spread their artistic talent and contribute to the art culture in other societies. Specifically for immigrating to the UK, there are certain restrictions and guidelines that an artist, composer, or writer must fulfill to be able to be self-employed there, such as being able to prove that he/she was able to support his/herself and any dependents for at least one year prior to applying to work in the UK. I haven't before realized that being a self-employed artist, composer, or writer would compromise or strengthen one's abilities to start or continue a career in a foreign country, so this research is really interesting to me. I can personally relate to this topic because for a period of time, my dad was self-employed as a ceramist and had he wanted to move to Ireland to continue his work, he may have had a few obstacles to overcome!

Before Steph and I took our lunch break today, we had a chance to talk with Sarah, the arts administrator at Belfast Exposed. I asked her if she had any personal connections to the photographs in the archives or if she was socially connected to the Belfast community. She explained to us that she has a great passion for photography and that working in an art gallery/photography organization is a very appropriate and fulfilling job for her. She didn't mention anything about the Conflict or about the content of the photographs, perhaps because she is from Oxford and only moved to Belfast close to a year ago, but I didn't want to push her to talk about the Conflict or the photographs so I just listened with an open mind to the things she did tell us about herself working at Belfast Exposed. In terms of how dedicated and invested Sarah is in photography, she told us about her world travels and how she has lived in Hong Kong and Turkey and has travelled to India, among many other countries to "follow in her grandmother's footsteps" with the goal of writing a book about her experiences. Photography was a big mode of expressing her travels and she thinks that photography is a great way to capture and see what is going on in the world, so working at Belfast Exposed is very fitting for her purely in that it is based on art and photography. As far as what she actually does at work, she "washes the glasses after the banquet" as she puts it. In other words, she takes care of the business side of everything and deals with the odds and ends, but didn't tell us anything specific that she does besides finding volunteers to work at the gallery desk.

Something I found interesting and almost sad was when she said that in her past jobs working with art, she really enjoyed working in groups and feeling like she was part of a team, and how she went on to explain that Belfast Exposed is not really like that and that everyone, although very friendly to Steph and I, pretty much keeps to themselves and works alone. I have to admit that I definitely noticed this trait of Belfast Exposed as well from my own experiences there. There seem to be different areas of work going on at Belfast Exposed and each area has one staff member, so each person has completely separate things to be working on and thus it does not seem like much of a community, in my opinion. There a small room with a refrigerator and coffee and tea, and there is one office that three of the women share but they each stay at their own desks and don't seem to talk to one another, go to lunch together, or socialize at work in general very much. Sarah further expressed to us that her contract with Belfast Exposed ends tomorrow because the director and curator are changing a few things around and her specific job isn't going to be a part of Belfast Exposed anymore. She seemed upset about having to leave, because of how passionate she is about photography, but at the same time seemed very easy-going about it and accepting of the fact that things like that happen in life and you can't really do anything about it sometimes. I personally sometimes have trouble with that idea and don't always have that attitude but it really helps me to be around people that are so laid back and easy-going, so I really enjoyed talking with Sarah. Sadly though, because her contract with Belfast Exposed ends tomorrow, I don't think Steph and I will see her again.

I decided to make more of an effort today to pay attention to who was coming into the gallery and had a chance to have a fairly long conversation with one of the guests. It was an American guy from Buffalo, New York who has been studying at Queens University for the past year and a half. He is part of the Institute of Cognition and Culture there and is doing research on creative or artistic individuals and their dispositions. He came to the gallery to see if he could advertise his research project there, in hopes of attracting prospective participants. He left with us four stamped and addressed envelopes which included inside several surveys that test people's personalities and creativity. They also included a self disclosure questionnaire and a lifetime creativity questionnaire. We told him we were willing to give out the surveys to several students on our BUNI trip that seemed to be on the creative side and he was very appreciative of us helping him out. He was a very friendly guy and was really enthusiastic about his project and was surprisingly interested in talking to us, even though we were Americans just like himself. Often times when you travel, you are getting away from the culture you are used to and you purposely get away to learn about other cultures and meet different kinds of people almost in hopes of not running into people from where you are from, so his friendliness was a surprise to me. It seemed pretty coincidental that the one guest we ended up talking to was an American but it was nice to know that other Americans are interested in learning about and traveling to Northern Ireland, especially because most American's don't even know that Northern Ireland is a separate country from Ireland.

For my next two days at Belfast Exposed I hope to have a few more conversations with some of the guests that come to the gallery and find out what attracts them to the gallery. I also hope to get a feel for what the next exhibition on bonfires will be like because the current one is being taken down and we will begin putting up the new one this week.

Belfast Exposed: Week 2

2008-05-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

Although in many ways I have thus far gotten a lot out of my experience at Belfast Exposed, up until now (post-third day), I wouldn't say that my presence there has been exactly useful in terms of the progression of the place. I've familiarized myself with the photograph archives and the gallery exhibition which holds the theme of migration and I've gotten to know the staff members to a certain extent, but my third day there allowed me to really participate and contribute to the up-keep and progression of Belfast Exposed.

Further, Pauline and a few of her fellow staff members are holding a series of discussions at a cafe called the Black Cat located near Belfast Exposed, this week and on the week of June 3rd, both dealing with the gallery's current exhibition theme--migration. Pauline will be the leader of the discussions and to prepare for them she asked my friend and I to do some background research to support and back up her points. The discussion being held this week will be about deportation, specifically in Ireland and the UK in general. Together, my friend and I did some research on the Google Search Engine to find current/semi-recent cases of deportation or anti-deportation campaigns. This task wasn't too difficult and I actually really enjoyed doing it. It forced me to learn about something that I never would have looked into on my own and caused me to really think about and form opinions about issues surrounding deportation. I am satisfied with how interesting the cases and campaigns were that I came across and am surprised at how many topics in life in general there are that are potentially fascinating to me. After we did the research, we e-mailed our summaries to Pauline and she seemed very pleased with our work, telling us that our examples will definitely support her arguments and points of discussion later this week.

I did enjoy the relaxing atmosphere the first two days, of casually browsing the archives and Gateway computer and watching the videos in the exhibition at Belfast Exposed, however it was a nice change of pace to be able to contribute and keep busy doing this research. I think that overall there will be a nice balance of what I do there--research and sitting at the front desk counting the amount of guests that arrive, combined with leisurely engaging myself with what the gallery and photography center has to offer and of course not worrying about being punctual at all times!

The next time we go to Belfast Exposed, my friend and I are going to be responsible for sitting at the desk again and simultaneously doing more research for Pauline. The topic of research that has been assigned to us focuses on deportation and Visa restrictions specific to artists in Ireland and in the UK, I am really curious to see what I can find on this subject, so I will be posting about my experiences doing that in a few days.

The Exposing of Belfast Exposed

2008-05-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

Having spent three days at Belfast Exposed at this point in my trip, I am really getting a feel for what kinds of things Belfast Exposed has available for the public and the things that go on behind the scenes. The gallery is like any other art gallery in terms of changing exhibitions every so often and people coming in to look at them. The space is made up of four rooms varying in size, but even so, the whole gallery has a small feel. Because I've worked at the front desk of the gallery with the job of counting the number of guests that come in, I've found it to be fairly popular. An approximate average of guests per day would be around 40 people, which is a lot considering it's open during business hours only. People leisurely walk in and seem to spend about 20 minutes looking around and reading the supplementary pamphlets of the exhibition. They are usually friendly and say hi when they enter and ask if there is a fee for entering (which there is not). The gallery is not as clean and shiny-feeling as the galleries I am used to seeing in the States, so that makes it feel more casual and maybe even allows viewers to focus more on the art than the space itself.

At this point I also have gotten to know the staff members of Belfast Exposed pretty well and have a good idea of the roles that they each play in this creative space. In general, everyone is very laid back in terms of time, space, and work. Especially for me as a student trying to get involved at Belfast Exposed, they aren't too pushy or dominating when I am there. Rather, they are lenient with when I come in, when I go to lunch and how long I am away for lunch, what kinds of things I work on while I'm there, etc. One thing I really appreciate while being there is that rather than putting me straight to work and being very business-oriented like people tend to be in the States, everyone really wants me to casually walk around the gallery, watch the videos, browse the Gateway, and look at the negatives of the archives to really familiarize myself with the deeper meaning of the photographs. They all seem very personally involved and proud of the photos and want me to feel the same way. This is great because I don't feel rushed or useless while I'm there because I know how much it means to them and how important it is to them that I form opinions and gain knowledge of Belfast Exposed and the Conflict.

Marvin, as I mentioned before as being the photographer, is very friendly and really seems to love his job. If you ask him one question, he will talk forever about it which shows how engaged he is with what he does and that it seems to be important to him to share his work with others. He also is the funny one of Belfast Exposed--he has wild, frizzy hair and presents himself in a very casual, non-threatening type of way and often slips a joke into the conversation. Pauline, the director of Belfast Exposed, is slightly more business-oriented than Marvin but is still very pleasant to be around and laid back. She is the one that has been in charge of what I do while I'm at her place of work. Sarah, who holds the position of assistant to Pauline, has showed the most interest in my friend and I and we have developed fairly personal relationships with her at this point, mostly because we have had more time to talk with her.

Thus far, working with the people at Belfast Exposed has helped me to become more patient and step back from the structured ways of living that I am used to and it's allowed me to relax and focus on enjoying myself through learning without necessarily doing anything. My dad is the director of the art gallery at Susquehanna University and I attend all of the gallery openings, and my friend works at the Bucknell art gallery, so it is safe to say that art galleries are a fairly large part of my life in Lewisburg, PA. So, I am pleased with my experiences so far in that it's always a good thing to see how other cultures do things and in this case, see how an art gallery/photography business is operated in another country and contrast it with the same type of place in the States.

Belfast Exposed: Week 1

2008-05-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

The spring 2008 BUNI trip is not only a vacation and a chance to see another part of the world, but is also based upon two college courses--a psychology one and a sociology one. The students of this trip are each assigned a field placement that sort of resembles a job, in which we attend twice a week for the three weeks we are here. So far we have gone to our placements twice. My assigned field placement is called Belfast Exposed, located in the title-obvious city of Belfast. Another student was placed here as well and because Belfast is about 2 hours away from Derry, the two of us and a Junior Fellow and one of the professors all travel in the rental car to get there. Belfast Exposed is essentially an art gallery, which has archives of a large number of photographs dating back to the 1800s. The archives are present here in material form--slides and contact sheets in binders, which are all organized in a library-like room at Belfast Exposed. The archives are also present digitally on a system called the Gateways. There is a little room in the gallery that holds only a computer and a chair and this is where guests to the gallery can browse the archives on their own.

So far I have explored and looked through the Gateways as well as the material archives. These archival photographs fall under three main categories--Political Landscapes, The Community, and Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The political landscapes photos include, for example, photos of funerals of people that died because of the conflict, photographs of Orange Order parades and various other types of parades, and political rallies and protests on the streets. One photograph showed the Protestant police force attempting to halt a Republican protest. The caption of this photo explained the initiation of The Public Order Law, which gave Protestant police the power to regulate the Catholic rallies and protests. This law was applied because of serious riots that occurred during the funeral of an IRA man and then 11 days later, 8,000 Apprentice boys marched through a city to protest this law, which is what was shown in this photograph. Photographs in the community section of the archives were widely ranged. They were general pictures of people in the community doing things ranging from every day activities like shopping, playing sports, or murals, to more intense pictures of injuries and wounds from the conflict and things of this sort. Finally, the Ulster Fold and Transport Museum section included photographs of the Albert Clock and the Belfast Harbour, among many others.

Aside from Belfast Exposed's large amount of interesting and well-known photograph archives, the gallery itself has different exhibitions like any other art gallery. The current exhibition is entitled "Migration." It is very interesting and unusual in that it doesn't have photographs, paintings, prints, or sculptures, but videos projected and played throughout the gallery. Some of them are projected on the walls and the floor with projectors and some are on televisions. There are about eight or nine video displays in the gallery, all focusing on migration. One area had videos of young women emigrating from their countries to make a living as prostitutes and another section had various televisions all playing at once, videos of women from different cultures who have experienced one of their children, usually sons, leaving home and moving to different countries to seek better lives and make better livings. Additionally, one television was playing a tape of a male soldier captured during war. Those three displays are the ones that I have watched the most so far but the other ones seem to be more abstract and artistic such as someone's mouth with a marble above it hanging in mid-air. I plan to watch each display in more depth as I continue to go to Belfast Exposed. Aside from actually looking at the archives and watching the videos in the gallery, the director and her co-workers had myself and the other student sit at the front desk and sell the gallery catalogues to guests and count how many guests come to the gallery. The staff members at Belfast Exposed are very laid back and interesting to talk to. The first day we were there one of them took us to get lunch and showed us around Belfast for a little while. Today we had a fairly long conversation with the photographer named Marvin. He is currently working on a project dealing with photographing the 11th Night and 12th Fortnight Protestant bonfires. He explained how these photographs are intended to help people gain better understandings of the bonfires and show how they are built. The next exhibition at the gallery will include bonfire photographs.

I’ve really enjoyed exploring and learning about Belfast Exposed so far and we are working with Marvin to perhaps attend a photography workshop he is holding on Tuesday, for our next day at Belfast Exposed. Check back next week to see how the day of photography with Marvin turns out!

Anticipating Our Departure

2008-05-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Four days remain until our departure for Northern Ireland. I am trying to enjoy the sunshine and 70 degree weather in Lewisburg while I can because I have been made fully aware of the weather conditions in Northern Ireland--mostly rainy and chilly. A few things still remain on my list of things to purchase before the big trip--a raincoat, rain boots, and an adapter/converter, however I am sure many more things will be added to this list in the next four days. I also have yet to pack and these lingering 'to-do' thoughts in the back of my mind are exciting me and making the wait hard to endure. Because we've had group meetings/class periods for our trip which included lots and lots of information, I am aware, to a certain extent, of what to expect in this foreign country. However, personal experience will be the true form of knowledge and insight to what Northern Ireland is like and i truly am really excited to step foot on Irish soil. From past experiences traveling abroad, I almost get an adrenaline rush with the first step in another country. I can't wait to see/ live in my flat, to listen to several Irish scholars, to see/learn/and write about Belfast Exposed, try Irish foods, drink Irish beer, and just plain explore new territory. I also, of course, am looking forward to getting to know and spend time with my fellow Bucknellian travelers. From this three week trip, I hope to further my knowledge and understanding of the conflict, gain insight on the culture of this country, have a lot of fun, and make some Irish friends!