BUTTE - The An Ri Ra Irish Festival, which begins in Butte this weekend, will feature an artist who grew up in Belfast at a time when many people picked up a gun; he picked up a camera.
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“There were lots of people around me shooting other things. All I was shooting was my camera. That's what I concentrated on,” Photographer Sean McKernan said.
McKernan lived in Northern Ireland from the late 60s to the early 80s, during a period known as The Troubles. His formative years were spent in a time of religious and political division that led to violence, riots and more than 3,000 deaths.
“I got arrested when I was 16 years of age,” he admitted. But if you’re a young kid growing up in West Belfast, your pastime- yes, you played football on the streets- but you were throwing stones; you were caught up in the riots.”
In his mid-teens, McKernan put down the stones, picked up his mother’s camera, and began shooting the chaos of his time.
“She wasn’t too pleased when she got her photographs back from the drug store. I was taking photographs of the mayhem on the streets around where we lived,” McKernan said.
McKernan is sharing his archive of photos from that tumultuous time in an exhibit called Belfast – Conflict to Peace, during An Ri Ra in the Copper Ball Room at the Finlen Hotel Aug. 14th and 15th. He will speak about the Troubles on Aug. 15 at 11 in the morning at Butte Brewing. He wants people to see how much progress his city has made since the end of The Troubles.
“Belfast went from being one of the most dangerous cities in Europe to now one of the most safest cities in Europe,” he said.
An Ri Ra will also feature Irish music and dance at the Original Mine Yard, and cultural exhibits throughout the weekend.
