Kerrie Hanna x Blackmountain Shared Space
Celebrating the opening of innovative peace building centre, Blackmountain Shared Space, Kerrie worked with members of the community as part of ‘GROW’ a Belfast 2024 Project conceptualised by Eileen McClory and funded by Belfast City Council. The completed stained glass panel was temporarily installed in the landscaped gardens throughout summer whilst an interactive dance piece moved around it, before being moved into the centre for permanent display.
In 1971, Father Des Wilson walked onto the mountain after the Ballymurphy massacre and saw a boy placing a jam jar full of wildflowers in memory of the people who lost their lives. At that moment, Father Des realised there needed to be a building here to bring the community together again. And so the building came to be built, and opened in 2024.
The imagery used in this panel was deeply personal to the community, and it was important to create a work with sensitivity in remembrance of what happened on this site in 1971, and also in hope of the peace building for the future, so the panel is divided into two - respect to the past and hope for the future.