A place apart? Visualising west Belfast, 1969 – 1998

Popular understandings of west Belfast, much like the broader historiography of Northern Ireland, have been heavily shaped by the legacy of the conflict. Through the exploration of four different genres of photography including press, documentary, community, and family photography, this thesis examines how different practitioners captured west Belfast and its people and how they engaged not only with themes of conflict, but of deindustrialisation, urban redevelopment, and social change in their work.

Historical analyses of both photographic practices and working-class communities in west Belfast remain conspicuous by their absence. This thesis, therefore, occupies a prominent position within the social history of Belfast. In filling this lacuna, it builds a new social history of Belfast grounded in photographic representation, revealing how systemic forces of conflict, deindustrialisation, urban redevelopment, and social change inscribed themselves onto the textures of everyday life and the lived experiences and emotions of individuals, families, and communities who persisted amid the enduring shadow of violence.<br><br><i>Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2030.</i>