John Duncan

• "Accommodation and Apartmentality" text by Glenn Patterson
• Source - contemporary British and Irish photography magazine ( John Duncan, editor)
• Catalog published by Belfast Exposed Photography - see excellent archives section
• Student Questions on John Duncan

Trees from Germany, 2003

John Duncan has photographed his home city of Belfast for over ten years. His images have provided a personal account of Belfast often hinting at some of the underlying tensions of the city.

This new work looks at Belfast in a period in which massive economic investment has produced a rapidly changing skyline and city space. Many of the elements of this new city could be found across Europe. There is nothing exceptional about the newly erected apartments, hotels and offices. But between them and the existing communities new interfaces are appearing with some of the existing communities in the city. In a central image we see a sectarian bonfire competing for space on the skyline with a newly erected hotel. In the next image at the front of the same hotel a lawn is being rolled out towards the Protestant political mural that declares 'You are now entering Loyalist Sandy Row'.

The work also contrasts the exclusive gated compounds and private gardens, which offer sanctuary to some of the cities residents with the reinforcement of traditional sectarian interfaces. We see a new town house enclosed on one side by a succession of fences. These start with a wooden garden variety and rise to a two storey steel mesh construction that marks this out from other more standard suburban developments. In other images we see signs of demilitarisation as a former army base is up for sale as a 'Prime development site'. The heavily fortified court room guard house now sits incongruously in the new 'low key security' court house area. Through the work Duncan presents us with a detailed account of the various aspects of the current phase in Belfast's evolution.

Boom Town, 2002

This new set of photographs have been made in Belfast over the last four years on a continuing series of walks by the artist. Massive investment in the city post ceasefire has produced a rapidly changing skyline and city space due to a large number of construction sites. Developers bill boards on empty construction sites give us architectural views of what we can expect this bit of the city to look like in the near future. The artist has systematically recorded these sites and signs to produce a portrait of the city at a moment of transition.