20 Slideshows

Holly Grove was a natural choice to have made in this segment of the circle. It had very much the atmosphere of one of the images in Benches. As an old established strip of parkland I expected little change in it In 1975, however, a wall was built directly in front of where I stood, effectively blocking the view. Resurfacing made my original position difficult to establish, a frequent hazard. The wall incorporated a concrete seat, and I thus had people lined up directly in front of me as an audience. Over the next seven years, bricks disappear one by one and two by two from the wall, giving me glimpses of the sight as it was originally. In 1984 the wall is rebuilt, but already by the time we take our photo, the same brick has been removed that started the partial demolition in 1977.

In 1985 the wall is officially knocked down, and the scene reverts to more or less what it had been, save that I am now behind the railings, rather than in front. After 1992 I am illegally in a designated children's play area. It could not be long before railings disappeared and in 2001 bricks were piled up for another adaptation of the area. This intervention, however, leaves the general appearance of the site little disturbed, even the old wooden benches remain, though they are replaced in 2006 by the now standard plastic Council park bench. Politics and protests have made no great impact on 20 Sites, but here they are heralded by the anarchic scrawl of 'Free' on the children's play area sign in 1996, and the real painted poster, in the Belfast manner, becomes part of the fabric of a wall on the right in 2012.