Culture

My Bloody Sunday — a new podcast

Photographer Deirdre Brennan has spoken to relatives, victims and responders who witnessed the terrible events of Bloody Sunday 51 years ago in Derry

A three-part podcast has just been launched by artist and photographer Deirdre Brennan. It includes interviews with the relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday and those on the fateful march 51 years ago.

Deirdre Brennan told The Irish Post: “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 I was setting off to Derry for the first time, I was encouraged by Barry Connolly, a sound engineer to record interviews with relatives. The recordings have culminated in a three part podcast entitled My Bloody Sunday.

The recordings were edited and arranged by Barry at Plexa studios. The title is a quote from Ursula Clifford, a nurse who was on the march and tended to the wounded and dying.”

The three episodes are

1. The March — relatives of the victims and those who attended the march, journalists and photographers recount the events

2. The Aftermath `— The wakes, the funerals and the effect it had on the families and the city of Derry. Relatives also describe in detail the type of people the victims were.

3. The Search For Justice — The relatives describe the 51 years they have been fighting for justice.

Deirdre Brennan has also produced a series of portraits. She said: “The portraits were inspired by the iconic photograph of Fr. Edward Daly waving a bloodied white handkerchief as he attempted to lead a 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 the 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.

“In the podcast you will hear from Kay Duddy, the sister of Jackie. Charlie Glenn, the Order of Malta volunteer who is helping to carry Jackie in the photograph, and from Fulvio Grimaldi, the Italian photojournalist who took the photograph

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