Despite overwhelming public support in Northern Ireland for equal marriage, it’s the only region of the UK and Ireland where gay couples can’t legally marry. The Northern Ireland assembly voted in favour of equal marriage in 2015, but the country’s largest political party, DUP, blocked the motion using a petition of concern.
Joe Caslin got some press during the 2015 equal marriage referendum in the Republic of Ireland, and he’s just completed a new mural for Belfast Pride, titled Love Wins, in Hill Street, Belfast. It shows an embrace between two women that live in the city and who travelled to America last year to get married because of the backward stance of the DUP.
Love Wins mural going up (photo by Neil Harrison)
To create his murals, Joe blows up his pencil drawings using a specialist printer, then uses adhesive to stick the rolls of paper to external walls.
Like his other pieces in the series, the rain will gradually wash it away over the coming weeks.
Finished mural (photo by Margaret London)
“In the Republic the question was put to the population who overwhelmingly voted yes and I believe that same question should be put to the people of Northern Ireland.
“If love is there it is one of the most basic connections of the human race and when you find it, you have to mind it.”
— Joe Caslin
Thanks for your work, Joe.
Leave a Reply