Through an Emerald lens

American activist and artist Elizabeth Billups has worked with Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and the American Indian movement, but it is her deep love of Ireland that has inspired her new photographic exhibition at the Conway Mill in West Belfast.

The moving and evocative collection, entitled Emerald Isle Visions, will be on display at the Mill from 1 to 24 August as part of the West Belfast Féile.

It is the first time the exhibition will be seen in the Six Counties and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams was there to launch the event. He recalled the days when the Mill had been a working linen factory, run almost entirely by the labour of women in what can only be described as horrendous conditions. He noted that the women who had worked there not so long ago had even been prevented from laughing aloud as they toiled in freezing rooms of water and flax.

"I hope wherever the old owners of the Mill are now, they are spinning in their graves," said Adams with a grin, a reference to the fact that the all the wonderful food, music and artwork on display had also been produced entirely by women.

Adams will be collaborating with Billups on an upcoming book of her work, which has yet to be titled. Billups says she hopes her current show will allow the viewer to see Ireland in a way they may not have before.

"I wanted to present images of Ireland that recognise no border," Billups told An Phoblacht this week. "The work spans several years and several trips to Ireland. I had more than 6,000 photographs to choose from and had to narrow that down to the 90 that I have in the show."

Billups' love of the Irish landscape, culture and people is evident in her work, with many native Irish viewers remarking that even they had never even been to many of the places she had photographed.

"You take it for granted when you live here, I guess," said one spectator. "It's almost as if you forget how stunning and diverse a place this can be until someone like Elizabeth reminds you."

A resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Billups did manage to include one or two shots from her own neck of the woods in the exhibit.

"I chose a few that I hoped would show people in the Six Counties the landscape and murals of Santa Fe. The murals we have there are mainly about freedom for indigenous peoples - as they are mostly Hispanic and native American - and freedom is something I feel very strongly about."

Inspired by her many interests, Billups has travelled extensively, but she readily admits it is Ireland which holds the most prominent place in her heart. She just isn't sure exactly why.

"I have always worked for civil rights, peace and justice on the planet, but the struggle here in Ireland touches me the most for some reason."

It was this intangible connection that stimulated Emerald Isle Visions.

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