Frankie Quinn and Gabbi Murphy, ‘Streets Apart: Photographs of the Belfast Peacelines’, Radical History Review 108 (2010)

This issue’s “Curated Spaces” features the work of the Belfast photographer Frankie Quinn, with an introductory essay by Gabbi Murphy. The photographs included come from a series taken between 2002 and 2008 that documents life along the walls and barriers, known as “peacelines,” that divide the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The walls, many of which were constructed at the height of the recent conflict by the British government, were initially conceived as a temporary measure to separate communities divided along political and religious lines and to control mobility within the insurgent nationalist community. Yet far from being a temporary measure, the walls have increased in number and in height over the years, forming a network of enclaves, ghettos, and deeply divided communities across the city.