CAIN Web Service

Introduction to the Directory of Murals
by Dr Jonathan McCormick

The Mural Directory contains details of hundreds of wall murals across Northern Ireland from 1996 through to the present day. The Directory contains a brief description of each mural, information on location, the date when it was last visited, and status of the mural. The Directory also includes photographs of a sample of the murals.

The information and photographs contained within the Mural Directory have been supplied by Dr Jonathan McCormick. Dr McCormick has been photographing murals in Northern Ireland since 1996. Initally Dr McCormick concentrated on photographing the political wall murals but in more recent years has extended the original theme to include conflict-related graffiti, spray-can graffiti, painted street furntiure, posters, other street art, as well as some of the security features to be found in the region.

The Directory does not claim to be comprehensive but does cover most of the murals that have been painted in the past ten years. The information is intended to act as a guide for people who are trying to locate a particular mural, or who may want to know what murals are to be found in a particular area. The album numbers in the table below provide links to the individual albums - click on a number to view a particular album. The albums mentioned in the web pages refer to photographic albums that he holds at home.

Users can search the Directory using the new search page. This search facility will allow users to locate murals based on a range of six criteria including location and a full text search of the descriptions. There is also a separate web page which contains a list of the albums with details of the number of murals, the number and dates of photographs included, and the geographical location of the murals.

The intention is to update the Directory as further murals are located and photographed. Further 'albums' will be added as they are completed. A selection of 546 images have been made available at this time (August 2006) and these are to be found in the form of thumbnail images within the albums. Users can 'click' on the small thumbnail images to view a large version of the photograph . Users who are aware of murals that have not been included in the Directory are welcome to send details of the location to the author using the email link below. Links have also been provided to the main menu page on the CAIN site for murals, and a page explaining the various acronyms that are used in the murals.



Publications by Dr Jonathan McCormick

Peer-reviewed Articles:
McCormick J & Jarman N. Death of a Mural. Journal of Material Culture 2005; 10: 49-71.

Other Articles:
McCormick J. Make Geography History. Fortnight 2006; 445: 5
McCormick J. Guerilla Artist. Fortnight 2006; 440: 31
McCormick J. The Colours of Trouble. Fortnight 2004; 423: 28

Jacket cover photography:
Global Liberalism, Local Populism. Peace and Conflict in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland. Guy Ben Porat. 2006, Syracuse University Press, New York. ISBN: 0815630697
Burying the Hatchet: The Decommissioning of Paramilitary Arms in Northern Ireland. Corinna Hauswedell & Kris Brown. 2002, BICC/INCORE.
Northern Ireland and the Divided World: Post-agreement Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective. John McGarry (Ed). 2001, Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0199244340


Media Reports About The Mural Directory

An article (with front cover image) on murals in Northern Ireland , featuring photographs from the Mural Directory, appeared in Swindle Magazine, Issue No.2, February 2005.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick about his work on the Mural Directory appeared in the South Belfast News on August 23rd 2003.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick about his work on the Mural Directory appeared in the Courier newspaper on July 21st 2003

An documentary on Belfast for 'Nosolomusica' featured an interview about the murals with Dr. Jonathan McCormick and was broadcast on June 22nd, 2003 on Telecinco in Spain.

A news item featuring an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick about the Mural Directory was broadcast by the BBC 'Newsline' television programme on BBC1 at 6.30pm on Tuesday 3 June 2003.

A news item featuring an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick about the Mural Directory was broadcast by the BBC 'Talkback' radio programme on Radio Ulster at 12.00pm on Tuesday 3 June 2003.

An article on the Mural Directory appeared in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper on Sunday 9 March 2003.

Dr Jonathan McCormick gave an interview, about his work on the Mural Directory, on BBC Radio Foyle, at 10.00am on 13 December 2002.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick appeared in the 4-10 December 2002 edition of the Irish Echo online.

Four pictures from the Mural Directory appeared in the March/April 2002 edition of COLORS magazine (Issue 49 "Tours"; pages 100/101). This publication is available world-wide (especially in Europe) in several different languages - see COLORS website for details.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick appeared in the Derry News Thursday 28 February 2002.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick appeared in the September 2001 edition of the Boston Irish Reporter.

An article on the Mural Directory appeared in the Ireland edition of the 'Sunday Times' on Sunday 13 August 2001.

An article based on an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick appeared in the Northern Ireland edition of 'The Mirror' on Wednesday 7 February 2001.

An news item featuring an interview with Dr Jonathan McCormick about the Mural Directory was broadcast by the BBC on the 'Newsline' programme on BBC1 at 6.30pm on Thursday 24 August 2000.


The text and the photographs included in the Mural Directory are all copyright © Dr Jonathan McCormick (all rights reserved). Users may print a copy for personal use or private study but reproduction of the material for commercial purposes is not permitted.


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Introduction     List of Albums     Search Murals     CAIN Murals Menu     Acronyms     Email    


© Dr Jonathan McCormick
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