Photo from H-block project reunited with Bellaghy man

Hunger Striker Laurence McKeown has shared how he has reunited Bellaghy man Colm Scullion with a photograph from the project ‘We Wore The Blanket’. 

The project was carried out by Mr McKeown alongside photographer Anthony Haughey. The photographs show former blanketmen and women wearing items of clothing a dressmaker had made for Mr McKeown from an original blanket from the H-Blocks. 

Whilst carrying out the project, Laurence and Anthony made several trips to Derry, South Derry, South Armagh, and Belfast. On the initial visits the set of clothes had not yet been made.

In a post on Facebook, Laurence reflected on the project saying: “In fact I’m not even sure at that point that I had totally settled on the idea of having the blanket cut up and made into clothes, so those we photographed wore a blanket draped around them.”

He continued saying: “When I did get the set of clothes made I decided that it was best to photograph former blanketmen and women wearing them rather than with a blanket draped around them. The idea was to recall the era of the blanket protest but at the same time to bring it into a contemporary setting. Unfortunately, we were not able to re-photograph everyone who had been involved in the initial series of photos so they did not end up in the calendar that was produced. One of those was Colm Scullion from Bellaghy, South Derry.”

Laurence explained how sometime after the project was completed, they tried to get funding for an exhibition that would have included the others.  He said: “Anthony created two printed versions of a photo of Colm, one on aluminium and another on a sheet of linen, as an example of how an exhibition would look. However, that is an expensive process and we were unable to access any funding to take the project forward.”

However the story had a happy ending this week when Laurence got the opportunity to deliver the finished photographs to Colm.

Speaking about the reunion Laurence said: “The printed photos of Colm remained in my attic until yesterday, many years later, when I finally got around to taking them to Colm. I was on my way to Derry and called his home. Of course, knowing Colm, our conversation continued until I was late for my appointment in Derry, but sure, the craic was mighty and we solved most of the world’s problems. And not only that, but I left with half a dozen freshly-laid eggs from the hen that was running around outside.

“Bua do na fir agus mná pluide – victory to the blanketmen and women!”