I called in quickly to the Titanic Quarter today on my way back from a wedding in sunny Carrowdore; I was intrigued to see how (or if) the TQ would look any different on 12th July than on any other day of the year. After all, it was hard to miss the fact that it’s “the twelfth” at any other point in my drive; bunting, arches, kerbstones, still-smouldering bonfires, the soft aroma of burning tyres… and sadly, when I got home, the news that there has been trouble in many areas of the country.
The Titanic Quarter, however, looked like this:
It struck me again, to employ an overused phrase, that the TQ really is the best ‘blank page’ that we’ve had for a long time. Think of how much of Northern Ireland’s physical space is contended, how colour and language and flags and street signs and all sorts of subliminal hints tell you that the road or street you’re walking on belongs, or has been fought over, or is still being fought over…
… in the TQ there’s just none of that. 12th July; empty streets, quiet buildings, deserted building sites. I don’t know if it was busier earlier in the day but when I was driving through, it was empty. Blank…
To me it’s a reminder that the TQ is growing a new community in a new space with a new ethos. In some ways that’s incredibly liberating – and in some ways it’s a tremendous challenge. We can’t let this chance slip – we can’t perpetuate the same old Northern Ireland in a new place. We have to figure out how to blend everything that’s best from our past into something new and unprecedented. Exciting times!
Hi Chris
re ‘the twelfth’ – Maybe it’s an over simplification wherein we have a blank page in a TQ (devoid of human life on the twelfth at least), and to create something new (other than the ‘old ways’ of division and the subsequent strife it causes). For example, we read in Genesis where God has a blank page and creates the universe and everything in it: ‘And God saw that it was good’ It is only with the creation of humanity, as in Adam and Eve, that things begin to go pear shaped. Can we as mere Christian mortals, create a new Eden in TQ? It would be fantastic if we could – and to the Glory of God – but how long would it be before temptation corrupts and old shiboleths surface?
Blessings
Robert
You’re right about the challenges.
While the emptiness feels liberating, the blankness also feels soulless…
But the people you’ll be working with won’t be without backgrounds, baggage or indeed, souls. The challenge is whether you can bring out the true and beautiful natural colours of these people, and blend them in such as way as to make art rather than sludge.
The Good News is that this creative work is the Holy Spirit’s. You’re just there to watch and learn!
And I’ll be watching and praying for more lifegiving and abundant colour than the limits of two tones with white spaces between them.