The story of the Bogside murals
The Bogside is the low-lying district just outside Derry's city walls that became the front line of the Northern Ireland conflict. It was here, on 30 January 1972, that British paratroopers shot 26 unarmed civil rights demonstrators, killing 13 on the day in the events known as Bloody Sunday. The area had already seen the Battle of the Bogside in 1969 and the declaration of "Free Derry," a no-go area where residents took control of their own streets.
The murals were created by three local artists, brothers Tom and William Kelly and Kevin Hasson, who formed The Bogside Artists in 1993. Over roughly a decade they painted twelve large-scale works on the gable walls of Rossville Street, collectively titled the People's Gallery. Each is based on documentary photographs of real events and people, from the civil rights marches to the hunger strikes of 1981.
Among the most recognised is the mural of Annette McGavigan, a 14-year-old schoolgirl killed by a stray bullet in 1971, the first child to die in the Troubles. The image proved so powerful that a related work was later unveiled by the Dalai Lama in Slovenia in 2012. Free Derry Corner, the white gable bearing the slogan "You Are Now Entering Free Derry," survives from a terrace otherwise demolished and is repainted to support changing causes.
Today the murals draw thousands of visitors a year and stand as one of the most visited free attractions in the city. They are framed by the Museum of Free Derry and a network of walking tours, many led by people who lived through these events or lost family on Bloody Sunday, keeping the account first-hand rather than second-hand.