My Bloody Sunday is a new podcast by photographer Deirdre Brennan and sound engineer Barry Connolly, recounting the events of that fateful day in Derry in 1972 via the stories of those present - Deirdre introduces the series below.
My mother was from the North. I spent a large part of my childhood there during The Troubles. Growing up in a household steeped in Northern Irish politics and civil rights, it was very important to me to create a body of work to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 2022.
I am a photographer, so the initial idea was to create a series of portraits of the relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday and those who were on the Civil Rights march 51 years ago. The day before setting off to Derry for the first time, I was encouraged by Barry Connolly, a sound engineer with whom I share studio space with, to recorded interviews with the relatives.
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The recordings have culminated in a three part podcast entitled My Bloody Sunday. The title is a quote from Ursula Clifford, a nurse who was on the march and tended to the wounded and dying. The recordings were edited and arranged by Barry at Plexa Studios.
The three episodes are The March, in which relatives of the victims and those who attended the march, along with journalists and photographers, recount the events of that fateful day 51 years ago; The Aftermath, which explores the wakes, the funerals and the effect it had on the families and the city of Derry, while family members remember in loving detail the type of people the victims were; and The Search For Justice, in which the relatives describe the 51 years they have spent fighting for justice for their families.
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I was interested in hearing was exactly it was like to be on the march 51 years ago. How the families spent that Sunday morning, was there any sense of foreboding. The atmosphere on the march and the aftermath of the shootings. The effect it had on their lives, and the city of,Derry. I also wanted,to know what type of people the victims were. They were hardworking people, leading productive lives with deep family bonds.
Most importantly, the Bloody Sunday families are very pleased with the production, feeling that it is a powerful and emotional telling of the families' stories in a novel way. They also feel it serves as a valuable archival document in accurately telling the tragedy of Bloody Sunday to future generations. They are hoping for it to have a permanent home in Derry in the future.
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The portraits were inspired by the iconic photograph of Fr. Edward Daly waving a bloodied white handkerchief as he attempted to lead dying teenager Jackie Duddy to safety after he shot by the British army's Parachute Regiment. The photograph became one of the enduring images of Northern Ireland's Troubles. The portraits of the relatives are merged onto the actual handkerchief Fr. Edward Daly was waving on Bloody Sunday. The background is a view of Chamberlain Street where Jackie was carried by the group of people trying to save his life.
'American Photography' book, collecting the year's most noteworthy images
In the podcast you will hear from Kay Duddy, the sister of Jackie, as well as Charlie Glenn, the Order of Malta volunteer who is helping to carry Jackie, and from Fulvio Grimaldi, the Italian photojournalist who took the photograph.
The photographs were selected for American Photography 38, the annual juried book of what is considered the best of photography during the year.
I would like to thank everyone involved who invited me into their homes and trusted me to tell their story. Their fight for justice for their loved ones continues.
