Label
Label from 2014.Art for Social Change:
Belfast is part of Rothenstein’s Violence series, which examines violence in our society through the juxtaposition of various newspaper images. The title Belfast, which is the capital of Northern Ireland, undoubtedly refers to the conflict between the Catholic Irish Republican Army and the Protestant unionists regarding whether Northern Ireland should join the Republic of Ireland or remain in the United Kingdom. In 1969 sectarian riots broken out in the capital city, and during the early 1970s bombings, assassinations and street violence were common. The banks of handguns on either side of the image may be the stockpiles of any number of paramilitary organizations operating at the time. Because of the extreme one-point perspective, the guns appear to project forward alarmingly into the viewer’s space.
This print is not, however, just about violence in Northern Ireland. The two photographs in the center have not yet been identified. However, printed over the top image is the front page of the London Evening Standard for Thursday, June 6, 1968. Its headline “He’s Dead” announces the assassination of U.S. Senator General Robert Kennedy, who was then running for President.