To mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, The Hands of History +20 and other installations, opened in April, 2018 in Victoria & Albert Museum Gallery, Liverpool, supported by University of Liverpool, Institute of Irish Studies. Like the Peace Process, this exhibition was/is an ongoing project. The 'Hands 0f History +20' and installations came to Belfast and opened in December 2019 through until February 2020, in the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
As we approach the 25th Anniversary of Good Friday, the sculpture to date (7/2/23) consists of 30 hand casts. It will be hosted in the Naughton Gallery, Queens Uni., Belfast, starting on 17th April 2023. Many international figures will be in attendance. Bertie Ahern, Former Taoiseach, Honorary Graduate and Honorary Professor, Senator George J. Mitchell, Institute of Global Peace, Security and Justice, said: “I look forward to attending the 25th Anniversary Conference organised by Queen’s University Belfast to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.'
Keys short clip
A selection from Hook at the Wall, audio visual installation.
After the Good Friday Agreement 1998, I created an exhibition to explore the Agreement and its context, titled: The Hands of History. This exhibition opened in 2002 in Belfast. The central installation piece was the bronze hand casts of those political leaders who negotiated the Agreement. In 2017 I received an invitation from the University of Liverpool and The Victoria Gallery and Museum, Liverpool, to exhibit on the 20th anniversary of the Agreement. For this exhibition the goal is to re-enact and extend the Hands of History with at least 20 additional new hand casts plus other new art works, especially two new significant audio-visual installation pieces. These new installations are composed of significant artefacts, The Keys of Crumlin Road Prison, and an original Internee 'prison-made' escape Grappling Hook, recovered from Maze Prison. The Grappling Hook was constructed by internees and had stayed hidden in the Internment camp also known as 'The Cages' Long Kesh for 30 years
The original Good Friday Hands of History sculpture consists of hand casts of: David Trimble, UUP, Gerry Adams SF, John Hume SDLP, Malachy Curran NILP, Monica McWilliams NIWC, David Irvin PUP, Gary McMicheal UDP, Sean Neeson ALL. The British Government is represented by Mo Mowlam the then Secretary of State. The new Hands of History +20 sculpture is comprised of local and leading Irish, British and international figures who have played a major role in the drive for peace.