Abstract

Since heritage is a manifestation of how the past is used in the present,engagement with heritage is a critical indicator of how contemporaryhatreds play out, both feeding and feeding off traditions and legacies.Despite its ongoing peace process, Northern Ireland remains a site of dissonantheritages, where sectarian hatred continues to be expressed in societaldivisions, often resulting in outright violence. This relationship betweencurrent expressions of hatred and the uses of the past present particularissues for heritage professionals. This essay examines a recent example inwhich these tensions have been made manifest, the inclusion of a paintingby Belfast artist Joe McWilliams in the Annual Exhibition by the RoyalUlster Academy at the Ulster Museum in 2015. The painting depicts theperformance by a Protestant Orange Order band outside a Roman CatholicChurch in Belfast as part of the annual Twelfth of July celebrations. Itincluded a small group of figures wearing white hoods, akin to the KluKlux Klan’s, and Orange sashes. The controversy that the inclusion of thispainting in the exhibition sparked illustrates the ways in which the artisticrepresentation of a performed heritage challenges institutional practice incurating dissonance.

Recommended Citation

Maguire, Tom (2016) "Curating Hatred: The Joe McWilliams's Controversy at the Ulster Museum," Journal of Hate Studies: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 5.
DOI: 10.33972/jhs.134
Available at: https://repository.gonzaga.edu/jhs/vol13/iss1/5